A Phantom Apocalypse
by LordPugsy
Summary: After the Disasteroid, Phantom is hailed as a hero. When the Ghost Zone decides to honour him too, Danny jumps at the chance. However, whilst in the Ghost Zone, an unimaginable threat strikes and the world is plunged into apocalyptic chaos once again. Foes become friends and friends become foes. Just because ghosts came back from the dead, does not mean other things can't as well.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello once again Fanfiction lovers. I have returned with another Danny Phantom story, which I sincerely hope you enjoy. As far as I am aware, there are no other stories like this, so fingers crossed this goes well. Without further ado, I present the first chapter of A Phantom Apocalypse.**

If Danny had taken in his surroundings, he would have noticed the newly varnished floors; shining vibrantly from the sun streaming in through the south facing floor-to-ceiling windows. If he looked down, he would have noticed the carpet with the Presidential Seal in which he stood on. If he had looked up, Danny would have noticed the plastered Seal on the ceiling, mirroring the Seal on the carpet. What Danny did have his eyes on, however, was the man standing right before him. This man was the President of the United States, and today, he was giving Danny Phantom the Medal of Honour for saving the Earth from the Disasteroid.

"Words cannot begin to express how thankful the United States, as well as the rest of the world, is for saving us from annihilation Phantom." The President said, giving the sixteen year old teen ghost in front of him a warm smile, which Danny couldn't help but reciprocate, albeit nervously.

"Really, it was no worry Mr President." Danny said, trying to lessen his shaking hands which he hid behind his back. At this moment in time, Danny was incredibly glad that his family and friends were currently on the other side of the door to the Oval Office. He had a sneaking suspicion that if they saw how nervous he was, they would probably laugh and cause him to make a fool of himself in front of one of the most powerful men in the world.

The President gave a small laugh. "Your modesty is humbling Phantom, but it does not do you justice. You were prepared to risk your life to protect the wellbeing of others, which is no small feat to ask of anyone."

"Thank you Mr President." Danny said, smiling. "But please, call me Danny. Phantom is always what the Guys in White called me. As well as Ghost Scum." The President blanched slightly at the barbarity of what the Guys in White had attempted to do Danny and his friends, causing Danny to relax a bit more in his presence. He liked this President because he had been the one to disband and discredit the Guys in White; he was also known to be very pro-ghost rights.

"Fair enough, Danny." The President said, regaining his composure. "Far better than Inviso-Bill also?" This time, it was Danny's turn to blanch, subsequently causing the President to laugh out loud.

"Anyway," the President began again, picking up a small box from the desk behind him. "It is with great pleasure and honour, that I bestow this Medal of Honour to you, Danny Phantom, for going beyond the call of duty in protecting the citizens of this planet. Normally, we only award these to members of the military, but there was a unanimous decision that you were fit to receive it. Although, its design has been slightly modified for this occasion." Opening box and handing it forwards, Danny brought his still shaking hands forwards to accept the box. Inside the box was a five-pointed, bronze star which had the Presidential Seal stamped onto an engraved image of the Earth on it. Turning it over it stated: THE WORLD TO DANNY PHANTOM.

"Th…Th...thank y…you Mr, um, President." Danny stuttered out, his eyes wide in awe at what he had just been given. If he had been looking up, he would have seen the President shake his head.

"No Danny. Thank you." He said, holding out his hand. Still not fully believing what had just happened, Danny just about ceased his shaking hands so he could shake the hand in front of him. Just as Danny was feeling relaxed, his ghost sense went off, startling the President. Turning, Danny saw the formation of a ghost portal coming into existence.

_Now? _Danny thought to himself as he got into a battle stance, his hands illuminating with ecto-energy. _Of all the times, they had to pick this one to ruin my day?_

"Just stay behind me Mr President." Danny stated, floating slightly in front of the President. The man himself was taken aback by the teen's tone; gone was the nervous and shy teen, and here was the strong, superhero that the President had read about. He was so focussed on the swirling, green vortex in the middle of his office, that he didn't notice Danny float back down and extinguish the light in his hands.

"Is everything alright Phantom? I mean, Danny?" The President asked nervously, having noticed what the teen had done. Danny had to force down a chuckle at the President of the United States suddenly sounding afraid.

"Everything's alright Mr President." Danny said, allowing his hands to drop to his side. "I know this ghost. He's a friend." The President's jaw dropped as a purple-cloaked figure with deep, red eyes floated out of the portal and into his office. A time piece was where his chest should have been, multiple watches adorned both his wrists and he held a staff, which appeared to have a stop watch situated at its head. Just as Danny was about to make the introductions, the main door to the Oval Office burst open and fifteen Secret Service Agents rushed in, followed by Team Phantom, members old and new, all with weapons drawn and raised at the ghost.

"Mr President!" Shouted the lead Agent.

"Danny!" Sam, Tucker and Jazz shouted.

"Ghost!" Shouted Jack. Instinctively, Danny put himself in front of the Agents' guns, protecting the ghost behind him.

"Whoa, easy there." He said, raising his arms in front of him, his eyes fixed on the guns. Oddly, he also felt a slight tugging sensation in his stomach as he did this. "Everything's alright. No danger here. It's ok." The lead Agent looked to the President for confirmation, who was still awe-struck from the ghost in front of him. Eventually, he gave his security a nod; slowly, but surely, everyone in the room lowered their weapons, but didn't put them away. Only Sam and Tucker tucked their wrist-rays away as they knew the ghost behind Danny. Sighing in relief, Danny turned to the ghost behind him, willing him to make the first move. Noticing this, the ghost nodded.

"Allow me to introduce myself." The ghost began in a deep voice. "I am Clockwork. Master and Ghost of Time."

"I…I…I am the, um, President of the United States." He stuttered, suddenly scared at the fact that this Clockwork, if he was telling the truth about being the Master of Time, he was probably immensely powerful.

"I know who you are Mr President." Clockwork said, bowing slightly. "It is an honour to meet you." Clockwork raised his hand to shake the President's, but before he got a chance, the Secret Service aimed their guns at the ghost once again.

"Stop right there Ghost!" The lead Agent shouted; Danny was starting to get really annoyed with him as he put his arms out once again as he focused on the guns. This time, the tugging sensation returned much stronger than before. Then, before everyone's eyes, the Agents' guns acquired a green aura and were pulled from their hands and floated just in front of Danny's shocked face. Looking on, Danny's family and friends each had a look of surprise on their face at what Danny was doing.

"Er, Danny?" Jazz asked. "Are you doing that?" Danny just looked at her, still stunned by what was happening. Slowly, the teen raised his hands higher and the guns followed suit; he then lowered them and the guns once again copied.

"I think everyone needs to calm down a bit." The President said, trying to gain control of the situation, looking from the green, floating guns to his security. In his three years of office, he had never had so much excitement in such a short amount of time. "I trust Danny's judgement and I believe Clockwork to be a benevolent ghost and that my life is not in any danger. Danny, would you mind handing back my security their weapons please?" Nodding numbly, Danny pushed his hands out further and the guns began to float back to their owners. The Agents grabbed and holstered them just in time as the green aura had begun to flicker; upon releasing them, Danny staggered back a bit in exhaustion, a sharp pain in his stomach at the amount of energy he had just exerted.

"My apologies Mr President." Clockwork stated. "Disruption was not my intention. However, as you are now finished with young Danny here, it is necessary that I take him off your hands." Releasing a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, the President nodded and signalled for his security to leave the room. Begrudgingly, the Agents nodded and left, with the lead Agent giving Danny and Clockwork a disgusted look before closing the door behind him. Flicking his staff, Clockwork created a portal behind him and turned to Danny's family and friends.

"If you would be so kind as to step through, you will find yourself back in Amity Park, along with your vehicle. Danny and I will be along shortly." Clockwork said. Danny gave them a reassuring nod as they accepted Clockwork's wishes and stepped through the portal, mumbling a thank you towards the President. Bowing once again, Clockwork bade goodbye and stepped through the portal, leaving just Danny and the President standing alone.

"I'm really sorry about all this Mr President." Danny said, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck, the pain in his stomach beginning to subside.

"Not to worry Danny." The President said. "If anything, it is me who should be apologising. Agent Erickson, my leading Agent, is a bit headstrong and opinionated when it comes to ghosts."

"Don't worry Mr President." Danny assured the apologetic man in front of him. "I've had two years of dealing with opinionated people about my kind."

The President smiled and held out his hand once again. "It truly was a pleasure and honour to meet you Danny Phantom. And if it's alright with you, if anything of a ghostly nature arises again in the future, I would like you to act as a consultant." This caused Danny to smile.

"It would be my pleasure Mr President." Danny said, shaking his hand. "And it was a pleasure and honour to meet you too."

As soon as he stepped through the other side of the portal, which turned out to be his living room, he was bombarded by his family and friends.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Tucker exclaimed, punching the air.

"How did you do that?" Sam asked.

"Are your powers evolving?" Queried Jazz.

"Are you sure we can trust this ghost?" Maddie asked, eying Clockwork with suspicion who was floating off to the side, chuckling at what he was witnessing.

"Where's your medal Danny-boy?" Jack asked loudly. "And where's the fudge?!" Feeling as if his head was about to explode, Danny brought about the white rings around his waist, silencing everyone as he transformed back into Danny Fenton, startling his parents more so.

_Still haven't got used to that,_ Maddie and Jack thought to themselves.

"Alright." Danny said. "In order. Yes Tucker, it was awesome, but it hurt. I have no idea Sam. Same goes for you Jazz. Yes Mom, we can trust Clockwork. I trust him with my life. And Dad, my medal is right here and the fudge is where it usually is in the kitchen." Whilst Jack raced off to the kitchen, Danny placed his medal on the coffee table and turned to face Clockwork.

"Any particular reason why you gate-crashed my ceremony with the President and nearly causing a shootout?" Danny asked, half seriously.

"I did not expect the Secret Service to act so rashly." Clockwork said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Give over." Laughed Danny, Sam and Tucker nodding. "You knew exactly what was going to happen. You know everything."

Clockwork chuckled. "I have been found out. But I am here on important business Danny. And, I may be able to shine a light on young Jasmine's question. If you would all like to take a seat and I shall explain." Feeling a sense of foreboding, Danny sat down on one of the sofas with Sam and Tucker either side of him, whilst his parents and Jazz took a seat on the one next to them, his father holding a plate of fudge. "As you witnessed earlier in the Oval Office, Danny has developed another ghostly ability."

"That's awesome!" Tucker exclaimed once again, shouting into Danny's ear. "Do it again Danny."

"Wait," interrupted Jazz, gaining Clockwork's attention. "Developed? Does this mean he could get more?"

"There is every possibility that Danny could acquire more powers as he continues to mature." Clockwork confirmed.

"But aren't you the Ghost of Time?" Sam asked. "Surely you know what new powers, if any, Danny will get in the future?"

"Of course I do Samantha. But divulging such information could cause a temporal schism." Clockwork explained.

"That, and the fact that the Observers would hound you. Well, hound you more than they already do." Danny said, chuckling.

"There is also that as well, yes." Clockwork agreed. "But we are getting side-tracked. Danny's new power will require training, very much like when he acquired his ice powers and he required Frostbite's aid to help train and stabilise them."

"Who will be training me?" Danny asked, having a feeling he knew the answer already.

"This time, it will be me who trains you Danny." Clockwork said.

"Why specifically you?" Sam asked. Realising that could have sounded rude, she reiterated. "Sorry, but you are the Time Keeper of the Ghost Zone. Are you able to spare the time, if you pardon the pun?"

"There are three reasons why I am overseeing Danny's training. First, and foremost, I am Danny's Mentor after the confrontation with his future self, effectively saving both Zones. Secondly, if I were not to do it, then it would have been relegated to the Box Ghost." Clockwork said. There were a few moments of silence before everyone in the room burst into fits of laughter; even Maddie and Jack knew how dreadful the Box Ghost was.

"If it's alright by you Clockwork," Danny began, wiping tears from his eyes. "I would much prefer you train me than Boxy."

"My thoughts exactly." Clockwork said, who had also chuckled at the thought of the Box Ghost training anybody, let alone Danny.

"Wait," Jazz said. "You said there were three reasons. What's the third one?"

"Thirdly, and the primary reason for my visit, is because it will be easier for you to remain in my citadel after the ceremony."

"Ceremony?" Danny asked, wondering what Clockwork was talking about.

"Daniel Fenton. Tomorrow morning, you are going to be honoured by the Ghost Council in front of the entire Ghost Zone." Danny's world then went black.

Danny regained consciousness a few moments later, but refused to open his eyes even though he could hear everyone talking about him. He was still taking in what Clockwork had just told him.

"I'm going to open my eyes in a second and hope I didn't hear what I think I heard." Danny said.

"No chance of that happening dude." Tucker said.

"No, didn't think so." Danny said, sitting up and rubbing his head. "It was worth a shot though."

"I can't help but get the impression you don't exactly sound pleased about this sweetie?" Maddie asked.

"I don't really like the idea of being in a room filled with ghosts who want to beat me with an inch of my half-life." Danny said, getting back onto the sofa. This caused Clockwork to chuckle once again, causing six confused faces to turn to him.

"What?" Asked Sam.

"There is not a single entity in the Ghost Zone who wishes to eliminate Danny Phantom anymore." He said, causing the confused faces to turn into astonished faces.

"You're joking?" Danny asked, not believing for the second time what Clockwork had just said.

"Your actions regarding the Disasteroid have had a large impact on the residents of the Ghost Zone." Clockwork explained. "You will of course have the occasional ghost who will want to cause hassle for you, but in fact, they all respect you."

"Even Skulker?" Queried Danny, disbelievingly.

"Even Skulker." Confirmed Clockwork. "He was more reluctant than others, but yes. So you best get ready. We leave in two hours."

"No rush then." Danny murmured. "How long will I be gone for? A week? Two?"

"Two."

"Well that's not too bad then, is it?" Danny asked, turning to the rest of his family.

"I was expecting worse." Admitted Jazz.

"That is, it will be two months." Clockwork said.

"MONTHS?!" They all exclaimed.

"Telekinesis is a complicated power to master Danny. As are others." Clockwork said, then raising his hand before anyone could interrupt. "I cannot say anything further on the matter. The Observers are always watching. Now, I will return in precisely two hours." With that, the Ghost of Time created a portal and stepped through it, leaving the Fenton household in a shocked silence, typically broken by Tucker.

"Dude!" He exclaimed. "You're going to get even more powers! I wonder what you'll get. Fire-breathing, teleportation, mind control or even electrical powers?"

"Tucker, bury down the comic book geek and get a grip. This is huge." Jazz said, looking to her parents for support.

"Maybe acid spit, a disintegration beam, weather manipulation, or maybe you'll grow a set of wings." Jack said excitedly, who started jumping up and down with Tucker shouting out different super powers.

"I think we'd best leave them to it." Maddie said to Jazz, eying the pair disapprovingly. "You've only got two hours Danny and I'm not letting you leave this house until you have a proper meal. Now, whilst I sort that out, Jazz, can you take Sam and Danny upstairs and help him pack?" Whilst walking up the stairs, they could hear Tucker and Jack still shouting out suggestions.

"Lycanthropy!"

"Fudge-Making!"

"Astral Projection!"

"Memory Elimination!"

"Limb-Detachment!"

"Fudge-Making!"

Two hours later, Danny and Sam were sat atop the hill under the tree they had shared their first kiss, staring out across Amity Park, a large suitcase next to them.

"You know," began Danny after an uncomfortable silence. "I really hope it's not Lycanthropy."

Sam laughed. "Yeah, I don't really fancy having a hairy boyfriend. Wings I could handle, but not the fur or claws."

"Boyfriend." Danny repeated, giving Sam a shy smile.

"Yeah," Sam said, giving Danny the same smile. "We've not really much chance to talk about it since the whole Disasteroid thing last week."

"We'll have plenty of time when I get back." Danny said, taking her hand, giving her a warm smile this time.

"Two months though Danny. You sure you have to go?" She asked him.

"I think I have to." Danny said. "If I do this, I may actually be accepted by everyone. This world has just about accepted me, but now the ghosts will as well."

"You're actually looking forward to this, aren't you?" Sam laughed.

"In a way, yeah. I'll feel better after the actual ceremony itself, but I'm still a bit nervous about being honoured in front of ghosts who have tried to beat me until I'm a pulp for the past two years."

"You'll be fine." Sam said reassuringly, before pointing into the sky. "Look, a shooting star. A sign of good luck." Danny followed where she was pointing; the celestial rock was streaking across the sky in front of them. To Danny, it looked as if it had a faint green aura, but he dismissed it as his imagination.

"I didn't think you believed in stuff like that Sam?" Danny chuckled, earning a half-serious glare from the Goth.

"Look, I'm trying to make you feel better." She said. "It's either that, or I take my boot off and hit you with it?"

"I'll take the lucky star." As if on cue, a green portal formed right in front of them. "Looks like this is it."

"I guess so." Sam said, standing up, bringing Danny into a tight hug. "Be back in two months, or else Ghost Boy."

"I wouldn't dream of being late Sammiekins." Danny joked, reciprocating the hug. Picking up his suitcase which his parents had tried to fill with all varieties of ghost weaponry, until Danny managed to convince them that taking weapons into a room filled with dangerous ghosts probably wasn't the best of ideas, he gave Sam one last kiss and stepped through the portal.

_Some Time Later_

The empty street the portal opened up on was bathed in perpetual darkness. Had there been light, disused cars would have been seen on the road, some actually on their sides or roofs, their engines rusted over from lack of use. Litter flew on the gentle night breeze from the overflowing bins which had been long forgotten about. Once the portal had fully formed, a hood-cloaked figure floated out and gently landed on the ground, the portal dissipating instantly. The figure was six foot with a powerfully built frame. The hood shrouded the figure's face in darkness; a single, crystal blue eye penetrating through, matching the blue clasp which held the cloak together on a solid silver chain. The cloak, barely touching the ground, was open to reveal a set of black converses, decorated with dancing green flames; a set of matching black jeans, finished with a chained loop and a plain, white t-shirt. Danny Fenton had come home. Gazing at his surroundings, Danny couldn't help but think some form of riot had taken place in the time he had been gone. What made the teen curious though is why there had been no attempt at a clean-up; the street had just been left as it was. He walked towards a car and used his newly trained telekinesis to flip it over effortlessly to see if there was anything interesting in it. Finding nothing, he continued on. Walking down, Danny suddenly realised that he didn't know where he was; he certainly didn't recognise where he was. Turning left at the end, Danny saw that it was in exactly the same condition as the previous street, completely destroyed and devoid of any form of life; he didn't recognise this one either.

_Alright, _Danny thought to himself. _I can't be in Amity. Damn Clockwork. He dropped me off in the wrong place. _Danny spent the next half an hour wandering around the mystery town. Normally he would fly, but after spending two months floating in the Ghost Zone, it felt good to be on solid ground once again. It was when Danny turned onto another street and he saw a large shopping centre did he finally realise where he was.

_I'm in Woodbury, _he thought. _Sam, Tucker and I use to come here all the time whenever we got bored with the one in Amity. _Woodbury was the small, neighbouring town to Amity Park, which meant Danny was only a ten minute flight from home. Just as he was about to take off, full of excitement about seeing his friends and family after so long, a high pitched scream cut through the night.

His senses on full alert, Danny did a three-sixty turn and caught glimpses of movement behind the glass doors leading into the shopping centre. Danny felt the green energy crackle between his fingertips, his now green eyes fixed on the doors, preparing for whatever might come through them. He had little experience with human crimes, but he was confident he could handle it, no matter what was about to happen. Just as Danny was beginning to get frustrated, a teenage girl of no more than about fourteen with long brown hair burst through the doors, fear stretched all across her face. She paused in the middle of the street, looking from left to right frantically, until her eyes came across Danny and she froze. Realising how scared she was, Danny thought he had best speak up.

"Hey?" He called out to her. "Is everything alright? Do you need any help?" The look of terror on the girl's face was instantly replaced with one of hope. Running up to the cloaked teen, she stopped a few metres from him before speaking.

"You, you can speak?" She asked. Danny noticed that she was flustered and looked as if she had been crying very recently.

"Of course I can." Danny answered, confused by the question. "Why wouldn't i-?" Danny was cut off as the teenage girl threw herself onto Danny, hugging him extremely tight.

"Thank you." She said, verging on becoming hysterical. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Hey," Danny said, comforting the girl. "Is everything alright? What's wrong?"

"You need to help me." She said, her voice becoming urgent. "She's trapped and I can't help her. Please, you have to help me save my mom." With that, she detached herself from Danny and ran back inside the shopping centre, leaving the teen ghost even more confused than he already was.

"Hey, wait up!" Danny shouted, giving chase to the girl, his cloak billowing behind him. He barely made it three steps inside when he almost collided with her. Turning to face him, Danny noticed that there was a deep look of fear in her eyes.

"We need to be really quiet." She whispered urgently. "I don't know if there are any more of them in here."

"Wait, you mean there are people trapping your mom in here?" Danny asked, whispering too.

"No." Was all she said, before turning and walking away, deeper into the centre, confusing Danny once again. Despite being confused, Danny continued to follow the teenager down the dark walkways, passed abandoned and looted shops. Eventually, they came to a storage area and Danny faltered; ahead was a long, dark corridor with pipes running across the ceiling but he could hear banging sounds coming from the far end as if they were right next to him. About halfway down, the girl faltered as she too heard the banging noises, and let out a small whimper. Picking up on this, Danny reached out and held her hand to comfort her; she flinched a bit at the coldness of his touch, but she was comforted nonetheless. Coming to another set of double doors, Danny gently pushed them open and took in the sight before him. It was a small maintenance room with various generators, but on the far side there were two people, who looked like men from the back, slamming their fists on a metal door in front of them. However, there was something about them which didn't sit right with Danny; their moves were sluggish, but seemed almost rabid. They were angry and desperate to get at whoever was behind the door.

"What did your mom do to annoy them?" Danny asked the girl, but she was too terrified to answer. Instead, she just backed away and cowered by the doors they had just walked through. Following her gaze, Danny saw that the two men had stopped pounding on the wall and had turned to face the teen. As it was too dark to see them properly, Danny turned his eyes radioactive green, the entire room turning the same colour. What he saw drained the blood from his face.

Both men looked as if they belonged in a horror film; the man on the left was covered in blood and it looked as if there was a chunk missing from his neck. The man on the right was far worse; he was shirtless and Danny could see that parts of his chest and abdomen were missing, blood freely flowing from them. When Danny looked at his face, he had to fight to swallow the bile coming up his throat; the man's entire jaw was missing, but what really frightened Danny was that both men had a hungry look in their eyes. Before Danny could say anything, both men lurched forwards, rotten nails outstretched towards the teen. Instinctively getting into a battle stance, Danny balanced on the balls of his feet until the last second when he jumped into the air and roundhouse kicked the first guy in the chest, sending him crashing to the other side of the room. Landing in a crouch, he swept the other guy's legs out from under him, his head cracking on the ground. Happy they were out for the count, Danny raced across the room to the metal door and ripped if off its hinges and tossed it to one side. Inside appeared to be like a broom closet, and hunched in the corner, obviously terrified, was a woman in tattered clothing.

"Please don't hurt me." She begged, cowering even more than she already was. Before Danny could assure her he meant her no harm, a voice shrieked out from behind him. Whipping his head around, Danny looked on in astonishment as the two men had staggered to their feet and were heading towards the teenage girl. Danny launched himself forwards and punched one of them in the back of their shoulder, causing him to spin off to the side, and then proceeded to tackle the other one to the ground. Getting back up, Danny looked at the one he had punched and watched in sick fascination as the arm he had punched was now only hanging on by a thin bit of skin.

"Look, I am so, so, so sorry." Danny said, beginning to panic that he had grievously injured someone. "I really didn't mean to do that." But the man wasn't listening. With a guttural screech, it lurched forwards, only for Danny to sidestep him and trip him up, causing him to go headfirst into the generator, making a very loud bang. This time, Danny made sure he wasn't getting up and only just about turned around in time for the second guy to come speeding pass him. This time, Danny grabbed the man's arm and turned him to face him, before punching him between the eyes, causing him to drop where he stood. Confident they were now safe, Danny felt his heart tug at the sight of the girl in the arms of her mother. Not wanting to intrude on their reunion, Danny walked over to the unconscious men to inspect them, but before he got a chance, he heard a voice from behind him.

"I wouldn't get too close to them if I were you. They may look down, but there's no telling what they'll do next." Turning, Danny saw the mom and daughter, still clutching each other, looking from him to the people on the door.

"What's wrong with these people?" Danny asked, gesturing to the floor.

"They're not people." The mom said bluntly. "Not anymore."

"What do you mean they're not 'people'?"

"As in, they're not people. Where the hell have you been? Under a rock?"

_Or training on one, _Danny thought.

"Look, we can't stay here." The mom said once again. "We've got a tent on the roof. We need to get there before we can talk." She went to walk forwards, but collapsed as her ankle gave way under her.

"Come on." Danny said, walking forwards. "Let me carry you. We'll get there a lot faster if you just point the way." Begrudgingly, the woman nodded in acceptance and allowed the cloaked teen to lift her up. Once he was sure he wasn't going to aggravate her ankle, Danny looked to her daughter.

"Lead the way."

Ten minutes later, all three were huddled around a small fire on the roof of the shopping centre. Danny wasn't cold in the slightest, but he thought he should stay by the fire to keep up appearances. He still wasn't entirely sure how many people knew about his dual identity, but from the way the mother and daughter had interacted with him, they didn't know.

"So," Danny began, trying to make conversation as he took down his hood, the one visible blue eye looking expectantly at the duo; the one other was covered by a bang of hair. "What happened?"

"We went down to see if we could find any food." The mother answered. "We were only here for one night before we moved on in the morning, but we had lost our supplies the day before yesterday. I'm Joan, by the way."

"And I'm Ellie." Said the girl, giving Danny a warm smile, a small blush on her cheeks. "Thank you for saving us. We'd probably be dead, or dead and walking around if it wasn't for you."

"I'm Danny, and it was no problem. It wouldn't have felt right to leave people in trouble." Danny said, reciprocating the smile.

"Very decent of you." Joan said, who began massaging her ankle. "There isn't a lot of decency left in the world anymore."

"Anyway," Ellie continued. "We went down to the generator room to see if there was any fuel we could use for a fire, when those two, _things_, appeared from nowhere. Mum twisted her ankle trying to get away and managed to get inside the closet. I ran outside and that's when I bumped into you."

"Speaking of which," Joan began, getting suspicious. "What were you doing in the middle of the night in the street by yourself?"

"Oh you know, I just dropped in." Danny lied. "I was just about to leave when Ellie came running out asking me to help save you. By the way, just what were those things? One of them didn't have half his face and one had his arm hanging off. What's going on around here?"

"You really don't know, do you?" Joan asked.

"No, I really don't." Danny said exasperatedly. "So please tell me."

Joan sighed. "We don't really know the full story ourselves. We were on our way to Amity Park, to the Refugee Zone to find answers. It's the only safe place we can go to. My husband went ahead two days ago to make sure it was safe. We got word last night that everything was true, so we set off."

"Well, I'm heading to Amity Park too, so we can go together if you want?" Danny suggested, not wanting to leave the family on their own.

"You can protect us." Ellie squealed, then blushing when Danny looked at her.

Joan sighed once more. "We really don't want to be burden, but we saw the way you fight. We would really appreciate it, if it's no bother? A mysterious, hooded figure can always come in handy."

"Thanks, I think." Danny chuckled. "And it's of no b-." He was cut off, when he heard a noise which made his stomach drop. He could hear heavy footsteps coming up the stairwell towards the roof. Danny launched himself to his feet and sped towards the door, startling the duo at his speed, and opened the door. Flashing his eyes green, he saw about fifty _things_ trying to get up the stairs at the same time. Slamming it shut and bracing himself up against it, Danny turned around.

"Pack your stuff up." He commanded. "We're leaving now!"

"What are you talking about?" Joan asked.

"Listen to me." Danny said, recoiling as they reached the door and attempted to break it down. "There's about fifty of those things trying to get through this door. Pack up your stuff and stand by the edge. NOW!" Both Joan and Ellie were too frightened to disagree, or think about how they were supposed to get off the roof, but they listened to Danny regardless. A few minutes later, they were really pounding on the door and Danny could feel the door beginning to buckle.

"Alright." Ellie said. "I think we're done. What now?"

"Ok, good." Danny said. "Ellie, I want you to help your mom over to the edge of the roof and then come back here and get on my back."

"Wait, what?" Joan asked confused by the teen's demands.

"JUST DO IT!" Nervously, Ellie helped her hobbling mother to the edge before going back to Danny, who had turned to face the door, his hands flat out against it.

"Ok, well done. Now, put my hood up and then climb onto my back." Danny said; she did as she asked. "You may want to hold on tighter than that Ellie. Come on, tighter." She complied and was practically strangling the teen, but Danny appeared not to be bothered by it.

_Alright. Time to go. _Thought Danny. "Whatever you do Ellie, do not let go." Before she could questioning him, Danny threw himself away from the door and raced across the roof to where Joan was waiting, holding their bags. A split second later, the door crashed open and they all spilled out and made for them.

"What, what are you doing?" Joan asked frantically as Danny lifted her up into his arms.

"Well, we're either going to Amity, or staying here to make friends with that lot." Danny stated, stepping over to the edge. "Now, as they don't appear to be in the friendly mood, we're going to Amity. Now hold on." With that, making sure everyone was secure, Danny jumped off the building and plummeted towards the ground. Screaming all the way down, Danny couldn't help but supress a chuckle before lifting up and began to fly upwards. It took a while for Ellie and Joan to realise that they were going forwards instead of downwards; they opened their eyes to the wind rushing through their hair as they heard Danny laughing.

"By the way, there was probably something I should have mentioned before." Danny said. Ellie edged her head round as Joan looked up; both stared in awe as Danny's eyes turned green. "My name is Danny Fenton, but you can call me Danny Phantom."

**Quite a hefty introductory chapter, but I felt it was necessary. I cannot promise whether they will all be as large, but I will aim for subsequent chapters to be long. Now, as a personal favour, if there are any other zombie-related Danny Phantom Fanfictions out there, please do not hesitate to tell me. I would take great pleasure in reading them, and also, it would be useful to know whether I will end up unintentionally plagiarising another author. I will also be thrilled to hear suggestions of what you would like to see happen. Now, two warnings before carrying on with this story. There will be a semi-strong theme of blood and violence in this story (comes with the Zombie territory), and it will contain some swearing. Not over the top, with profanities in every sentence, but they will be present. If either of these is likely to offend any potential readers, please read no further. I would not want to upset anyone. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and will continue to read on. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been about ten minutes since Danny revealed who he was to Joan and Ellie and they had yet to utter a single word; a look of permanent surprise etched on their faces ever since they left Woodbury. Danny didn't mind if he was being honest with himself. He was relishing the flight through the cool, night sky, with the full moon illuminating everything below him. He was going slightly slower for their benefit as he didn't think they would appreciate the speeds he could get up to, especially as Joan was injured and had a slightly distrustful disposition towards Danny, so it was going to take slightly longer to reach Amity Park. From this altitude, Danny could clearly see the roads below him, and what was walking down them. From what he could estimate, there were about two hundred of them ambling down the main road which connected Woodbury to Amity Park; the only obstacles they faced were disused cars, which were beginning to unnerve Danny. Danny also used the silence as the gravity of the situation finally hit him. His world was gone, and in its place was this dark and decrepit excuse for a world, which to Danny, held the undeniable stench of death. It was then that Danny suddenly feared for his family and friends; he didn't think he could bear it if something had happened to any of them. Thankfully, it was as Amity Park came into view that Ellie finally spoke, breaking his morbid train of thought.

"Are you really Danny Phantom?" She asked, a hint of awe in her voice. "As in, the Danny Phantom? The Danny Phantom who saved the world from that green asteroid?"

Danny laughed. "Well I was the last time I checked."

"But, how?" Joan finally asked.

"How what?" Danny asked, looking down at the woman whom he was carrying.

"How are you here?" Danny shrugged. "Got dropped off by a friend of mine. I've been in the Ghost Zone for a while, so it looks like a lot's happened since I've been gone."

"You're not wrong." Ellie said, sniffling as the cold air made her nose run, her grip slightly tightening. "Look! There's the school!" Following her finger, Danny looked into the distance and saw something which made him frown. Caspar High had changed dramatically; a colossal green ecto-shield was encasing it, very similar to the one used when Pariah Dark and his army of skeleton soldiers invaded. The school grounds had large, metal slabs and various vehicles surrounding the perimeter, which Danny assumed they were being used as barriers. There was only one access point from what Danny could see on this side of the building, which had been left as the main school gate, but with barbed wire and spikes entwined through the bars. He could also see six figures on the opposite side, all armed. Thinking it would be better to walk up rather than drop in, literally, Danny landed a few hundred metres away. Dipping his shoulder down so Ellie could dismount easily, Danny also gently put Joan down on the ground, taking a quick survey around to make sure there weren't any things hiding in the dark. Satisfied they were alone, Danny turned his attention to the woman on the floor, who was struggling to get to her feet.

"Here, let me." Danny said, bending down and placing his hands on the bruised ankle. "Just relax."

"What are you going do?" Joan asked nervously.

Danny sighed. "Is it too much to ask that you just trust me? Even a little bit? If I wanted to hurt you, I would've dropped you when we were flying."

"Sorry." Joan said, not meeting the teen's eyes. "Not really used to trusting ghosts. Or not ghosts, ghosts."

Danny frowned. "Yeah, I'm use to that. But just try to relax. This will go a lot smoother if you keep your foot still." Pulling off the woman's shoe, Danny inspected the sprained ankle. It was an assortment of browns, blues and purples and had swelled up like a balloon. There was no way she was going to be able to get her shoe back on with that. Focussing on her foot, Danny's eyes began to glow a vibrant blue as he felt his ice powers travel up his body and down his arms into his hands. As the mother and daughter looked on in amazement, with Joan only flinching slightly at the sudden chill, the injured ankle began to reduce in size and the colours retracted back to their usual pinkish colour.

"There we go." Danny said, absorbing his ice powers back into his core. "Try moving it around." If Ellie's and Joan's jaws hadn't hit the floor when Danny's eyes glowed blue, they certainly had now as Joan wiggled her toes and rotated her ankle without so much as a whimper. Gingerly getting to her feet with the aid of Ellie, she put all her weight on her foot and was astonished when she didn't even feel a twinge.

"H…How?" She asked. Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't spend all that time in the Ghost Zone twiddling my thumbs. I picked up a few things. Now, you're going to need to keep off of it for a while once we get inside. Do you think you'll be alright to walk just a little bit further? Or would you prefer me to carry you?"

"I think I'll be alright, thanks." Joan said, taking a few tentative steps.

"Good." Danny said, taking a look towards the school at the end of the street, where he could see the figures on guard at the front gate. "Come on then. Let's go say hi."

As they approached the school, Danny saw how the Ghost Shield hit the ground several feet away from the gate. When they were no more than ten feet away from touching the shield, one of the armed figures stepped forward, their gun raised in their direction. Danny noticed that they were all wearing balaclavas and ski goggles, presumably to keep out the cold. Or to look intimidating.

"Halt!" He shouted gruffly, causing the trio to stop in their tracks. "Who goes there?"

"Please," Joan begged, inching slightly closer. "We're alive. Please let us in. We're trying to find my husband. He should have arrived two days ago."

"Names?" Asked another guard, female this time, who had a clipboard in one hand and a torch in the other.

"Hemmingway." Joan said. "Joan and Ellie Hemmingway."

"Wife and child to Greg Hemmingway?"

"Yes!" Ellie exclaimed. "That's him."

"Alright, open the gate." The woman said, gesturing to two other guards. "We've been expecting you for a while."

"We got held up in Woodbury." Joan said, putting her arm around her daughter and walking forwards, through the Ghost Shield. "This young man here saved us."

"And just what might be your name then?" Asked another guard, male this time. "And why are you dressed like a crappy Grim Reaper?" Danny couldn't help but think he recognised the voice.

"What difference does my name make?" Danny challenged. "And by the way, I take offense to that. I've met Grim and I'm pretty sure he would take offense to that too. He worked hard on his outfit."

"Listen here smartass." The guard said aggressively, taking a step beyond the shield. "You may think you look cool, hiding away in that hood of yours, but around here, you do as we ask. We're stretched enough for food and supplies as it is, so we're not just going to let any random person in. So I'll tell you again. Tell me your name." With this, three others stepped forwards and aimed their guns at Danny's face. When Danny didn't answer, the guards couldn't help but feel spooked by the stranger in front of them. Just as they were about to demand an answer, Danny saw their eyes widen behind their goggles as he heard a noise from behind him. Turning his head, Danny observed three things coming up the street towards them; even from this distance, Danny could see the appalling state they were in. Their clothes were hanging off, dried blood caked them from head to toe, and all had various limbs and patches of flesh missing.

"CLOSE THE GATES AND TAKE AIM!" Shouted the one who had been rude to Danny, whilst one stepped back to guard the door to the school on the off chance one managed to make it through. Smirking slightly, Danny raised his hand to stop them. Then, turning fully towards the oncoming enemies, Danny then raised his arm towards a nearby, unlit lamppost. It gained a green aura and was ripped out of the ground and headed towards them. Concentrating, the post, as if superheated, began to bend with ease without breaking and became a lasso, ensnaring all three of them. Raising his arm higher, Danny placed the now three struggling things on a nearby roof. Now, turning back to face the four guards who had been aiming at him, Danny concentrated on their guns and ripped them from their hands, causing them to float in the gap between them.

"Now," began Danny, his arm still outstretched. "Say please, and you can have your guns back." Whilst the guards on this side of the gate were stuck in a stupor, eyes fixated on their floating weapons, Danny noticed that Joan and Ellie were chuckling at the sight before them.

"Please." The guard murmured. To Danny, it sounded like he would rather kiss one of the things he just put on the roof than apologise to him, but Danny knew that was the best he was going to get. Acknowledging the apology, Danny sent the guns back to their owners, the green aura vanished. The moment he relinquished control, Danny felt a small, stabbing sensation in his stomach. _Right_, Danny thought, trying to hide the discomfort he was. _Try not to overexert in human form. Still not used to it. Probably should have got Clockwork to train my human side whilst I was there_. Danny was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't realise the guards were mumbling amongst themselves.

"How the hell did he do that?" Asked one of them.

"I don't know." Said the female guard, giving the hooded stranger furtive glances. They were all slightly on edge at the fact they could only see one, blue eye protruding through the darkness.

"Maybe it was the Fenton's?" Suggested one of the guards. "They're always making crazy new weapons. Maybe it was one of them and this guy managed to steal it." Danny whipped his head up at his surname.

"Wait." His voice taking on a tone of urgency. "The Fentons are alive? And here?"

"Why the sudden interest in the freaky Fentons?" Asked one of them, causing Danny's blood to boil slightly at the insult. That feeling, however, vanished when Danny recognised the insult.

"Wait, I know you." Danny said, more to himself than anyone else. It was then that he saw a small wisp of blonde hair poking inside the ski goggles. "Dash? Is that you?" With that, he took down his hood and pushed the overhanging bang behind his ear, revealing both blue eyes. The guard gasped and pulled down his balaclava and took off his goggles to reveal the ex-jock himself.

"Fenton?"

The ex-classmates just stood there looking at each other for what seemed an age.

"Hey Dash." Danny said awkwardly. He wasn't really sure what to say to someone who spent two years bullying him and his friends. "How's it going?"

"Fenton." Dash repeated, walking towards the teen. Then realisation hit him as his eyes widened. "Wait, Phantom! But, Fenton?" Realising Dash was about to lose it, Danny set his mind at ease.

"Fenton's fine Dash." With this, he stuck out his hand. Slowly mirroring the action, Dash gradually shook Danny's hand, before a wide smile spread across his face.

"Fenton!" He shouted happily. Before Danny knew it, Dash brought him into a bone-crushing bear hug, which Danny had to phase out of, causing multiple jaws to drop once again. "That was so cool!"

"Thanks." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think."

"Hey Kwan!" Dash called behind him to the guard who went to stand by the door. "Get over here. It's Fenton." Said guard walked over and removed his balaclava and ski goggle to reveal the Asian jock that used to aid Dash in his bullying antics. As he got closer to the pair his eyes widened at the sight of the now six foot Danny Fenton.

"Danny Fenton." He said, sticking his hand. "My God you're a sight for sore eyes."

"Hey Kwan." Danny said, shaking his hand. "It's been a while."

"You can say that again." Kwan said. "So where the hell have you been?"

"I've been in the Ghost Zone." Danny explained. "Listen, can we go inside? Joan needs to put her foot up and find her husband. Besides, there could be more of them out here."

"Yeah, sure." Dash said, walking back through the Ghost Shield and the gate, before turning back to Danny. "Can you get through here?" To answer his question, Danny walked through it with ease, not being affected by the shield in the slightest.

"That would be a yes." Danny said, much to Dash and Kwan's amazement. "I can pass through them in my human form. It's just when I'm Phantom that I tend to get a nasty shock." Dash nodded before turning to the female guard.

"Tammy, can you get Dillon and Ashley to cover us whilst we take these guys inside?"

"Sure." She said, taking out her radio. Dash turned back to Danny, and then to Joan and Ellie.

"Come on then." He said. "Let's give you the grand tour. And, there are some people who will be mighty pleased to see you breathing, well, you know." Danny couldn't help but chuckle Dash, still slightly surprised that he had an actual conversation without Dash taking a swing at him.

Whilst Kwan took Joan and Ellie off to find Greg, Dash took Danny. Leading him down a series of corridors, Danny couldn't help but feel nostalgic as memories, both good and bad, streamed through his mind. They just passed the locker where Danny had been trapped by Sidney Poindexter and then the cafeteria where Danny had his first proper ghost fight with the Lunch Lady Ghost; he could even hear people on the other side door, chatting and laughing. Passing some of the History classrooms, they encountered some other people who looked a little worse for wear, but when they saw Danny, they looked down and hurried off.

"How many people are here Dash?" Danny inquired, who felt slightly uncomfortable by their behaviour.

Dash let out a long breath. "I want to say around two hundred and fifty. Maybe three hundred, but I can't be sure. Oh, and there's something you should know, which you probably won't like."

"Like I haven't heard that before." Danny muttered, instinctively raising his hood again, hiding his face once more as they passed yet more people who treated him in the same way the others had. Dash noticed but didn't comment. "What is it? People still don't trust ghosts?"

"No, it's not that." Dash said quickly, before catching himself. "We've got more things to worry about now than ghosts. It's more to do with you, as in specifically you."

"What are you trying to say Dash?" Queried Danny, wondering what had come over the ex-jock. "Spit it out."

"There are, um, some people here, well quite a few people actually, who aren't exactly, um, happy with you." Dash said, fiddling around with his weapon awkwardly, which Danny suddenly realised was one of his parents' ecto-blasters. "That is, Phantom you, not Fenton you. Well, I suppose they won't be happy with Fenton you either."

"So everyone knows." Danny said; it was a statement, not a question. "Figures as much. But why aren't they happy with me?"

"No wonder we nicknamed you the 'Clueless One'." Dash muttered under his breath, which Danny heard. "Basically, you weren't here when we needed you the most. We could have really used you in the beginning. We lost a great many people that could have been saved." This caused Danny to stop in his tracks at what Dash had told him. _People died_, he thought, his legs beginning to shake. _People died, and I wasn't here. I'm supposed to be their protector, and I failed_. A swift back hand from Dash was enough to break through to Danny.

"Hey, listen to me Fenton." He said seriously, looking him dead in the eye, which was odd to begin with. He was used to looking down at Danny, but his growth spurt had changed all that. "I, as well as quite a few people here, know that there must have been some reason why you've taken so long to get back. So snap out of it. I told you that just to prepare you. There may be some resentful comments heading your way." _Something tells me I've been gone longer than two months_, Danny thought to himself as they resumed walking, when something occurred to him.

"Hey Dash, can I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Danny asked bluntly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you are. But, after what you just said about what happened because I wasn't here, why aren't you hurling abuse at me and trying to take my head off?" This caused Dash to laugh, which sounded alien to Danny.

"You forget Fenton, I was one of the first believers in Phantom, um, I mean you." Dash said, blushing slightly as he said it; he wasn't used to paying Danny Fenton compliments. "We knew you'd be coming back at some point. True, we would have preferred you come back a bit sooner, but obviously that couldn't be helped. You're here now, that's what matters." This time Danny was completely taken aback by Dash's attitude.

"Well look at you Dash," Danny said in an appraising tone. "Sounds like you've grown up since the last time we met."

"We had to, given the circumstances." Dash said solemnly, before coming to a stop outside one of the Chemistry classrooms. "Here we are. They're right inside."

"Thanks Dash." Danny said truthfully, giving the ex-jock a smile, despite the fact he couldn't see it. "I'll see you around." Just as Danny placed his hand on the handle, Dash spoke again.

"Hey, um, Danny?" He asked, nervous about using his first name.

"Yeah?"

"When you get a chance, go to the north end of the football pitch. There's something down there you should see." With that, Dash turned on his heels and marched off, leaving Danny deep in thought as to what he told him, before turning back to the Chemistry door. Taking a deep breath, Danny pushed down on the handle and walked inside the room.

All the work benches were either piled high with bits of machinery and weapons, or had beakers and flasks boiling some sort of liquid over Bunsen Burners, which to Danny, looked eerily green. _I bet my half-life they've got ectoplasm in them_, thought Danny as he inspected one closely. _I bet it was Dad's idea_.

"Hey, is someone there?" A feminine voice called out from the back of the classroom; Danny's heart palpitated slightly in recognition. "Jack, I think Jazz is back." Turning a corner, Danny came face to face with a woman in a black and blue hazmat suit, with short brown hair.

"Can I help you?" She asked, scrutinising the tall, black-cloaked figure in front of her. "It's not Halloween yet, is it? I thought we were still in winter."

"I wouldn't really know what month it was." Danny said, finally finding his voice. "I've been gone for quite a while."

"Wait, I know that voice." Maddie said, inching slightly forwards. "It's been a long time, but I'm sure I know that voice."

"I should hope so." Danny said, laughing nervously. "I think I might feel slightly insulted if you didn't." With that, Danny pulled down his hood and swept the bang behind his ear once again so Maddie could see his entire face. She didn't recognise him straight away; his face had lost all its puppy fat, he had grown half a foot, his frame had filled out and his hair was now almost twice the length it had been. From one moment, where her eyes studied every feature, to the next when she launched herself across the room and pulled Danny into a hug which rivalled Dash's, tears flowing freely.

"My boy." She sobbed. "My boy is back. My boy is back." Danny didn't have the heart to phase out of grip. Knowing her, she would probably suck him inside a thermos if he even thought about doing just that.

"I'm sorry mom." Danny said, tears threatening to spill. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't," Maddie said, still gripping tightly. "You couldn't have known what was going to happen. You can't blame yourself."

"But I could have done something." Danny said. "I could have helped people. No one would have died."

"Danny Fenton." Maddie said, pulling away and looking up into her son's eyes. "That is far too great a burden to carry. Don't you dare put yourself through that. You're here now, that's what matters." Instead of speaking, Danny just brought his mother in for another hug.

"Please tell me everyone else is ok?" Danny begged after a few moments. "That no one is like, well, _them_?"

"We lost a lot of people in the beginning. Some we knew, many we didn't." Maddie said, echoing what Dash had said earlier. "But rest assured, the Manson's, the Foley's and we Fenton's are all safe. Well…"

"'Well'?" Asked Danny, on the verge of panicking. "Don't 'well' me mom. What's happened?"

"It's your father." Maddie said. "About a month after we secured the school, some of them got in. We hadn't perfected our defences, and we lost some people. Your father was bitten."

"_Bitten_?" Danny asked in horror.

"It's ok sweetie. Your father is ok, but we had to act quickly." Maddie said reassuringly. "Jack! Grab your stick and get out here. There's someone here to see you." It was then that Danny heard someone moving heavy-footedly in the room where they kept all the chemicals.

"I told you Maddie," came Jack's loud voice. "It's not a stick. It's the Fenton Multi-Purpose Mobility Staff. It's better than a stick because it has the word 'Fenton' on it." As soon as Jack walked through the doorway, Danny couldn't stop the gasp which escaped his lips. His father was exactly the way he remembered; still large, still wearing his black and orange jumpsuit and still had a kind face. But instead of focussing on what he was used to seeing his father as, Danny's eyes were drawn to his left leg, which ended abruptly at the knee. Instead of the rest of his leg, in its place was a thick, metal prosthetic that ended in a stump. It also appeared to be covered in a multitude of panels. He was also using a gleaming silver crutch, adorned with various multi-coloured buttons, to aid his movement. To Danny, it looked suspiciously like an elongated Fenton Thermos, which if he knew his father like he thought he did, it probably acted as one when a certain button was pressed.

"Danny-boy?" Jack asked disbelieving when his eyes fell on Danny. "Is that you?"

"Dad." Danny said smiling. He then raced forwards and embraced his father, who was also pleasantly surprised at the rate in which his son had grown. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine son." Jack said happily. "Couldn't be better."

"But, your leg?" Danny said, gesturing to the prosthetic; Jack tapped it with his crutch.

"Nothing to worry about." He said. "Hasn't stopped me getting around and making new inventions. Take a look at this." He pressed a brown button on his crutch and a large panel opened up on his prosthetic. Reaching down, Jack pulled out several cubes of fudge and popped them in his mouth.

"That is probably one of the craziest things I have ever seen you invent." Danny said, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing at his father's childish antics and obsession with fudge.

"Smashing, isn't it?" Jack asked brightly, pushing the same button causing the panel to close.

"'Smashing?'" Danny queried.

"Sorry son. I've been spending too much time with Georgey." Jack said. "His accent tends to rub off sometimes." Danny looked over to Maddie, who just mouthed 'later', causing Danny to chuckle once more.

"So where's everyone else? Jazz, Sam and Tucker?" Danny asked.

"They're part of the R&R teams." Maddie said.

"'R&R?'" Danny asked, confused.

"Stands for Reconnaissance & Raiding Danny-Boy." Jack said. "They go off into teams and scout places with potential supplies. If the place is crawling with Rotters, they come back and we send a whole team in to clear them out, and take what we need. As we speak, Sam is off in one team with Tucker and Jazzy-Pants is in another team."

Danny let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness for that." It was then that Danny finally built up the courage to ask what he had been dreading. "I've been gone longer than a few months, haven't I?"

"I'm afraid so sweetie." Maddie said, giving her son a sad look. Just as she was about to explain further, the door to the Chemistry room burst open and Dash rushed in, a look of horror spread all across his flushed face.

"Fentons." He gasped collectively. "We've got a big problem."

"What's happened Dash?" Maddie asked.

"Our Watcher in the Eagles-Nest has just spotted flares."

"What colour?" Asked Jack, his usually jovial tone turning to one of seriousness.

"Red." Said Dash.

"What does that mean?" Danny asked, now beginning to get worried himself.

"Which team was it?" Maddie asked worriedly, not giving Dash an opportunity to answer Danny.

"The one which was investigating the abandoned warehouse down Claremont Street." Dash said.

"But that's…" began Maddie, sharing a terrified look with Jack. "That's where Jazz's team was sent."

**Just wanted to say thank you for those who recommended 'Wide Awake' by Tori Stone. It was a brilliant story, and I further recommend it to any other readers. Once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and continue to read on. Until next time. Lord Pugsy.**


	3. Chapter 3

The moment Maddie had revealed that it was Jazz's team in trouble, the room temperature dropped so low that ice crystals began to form on the windows. Six pairs of nervous eyes all found Danny's and they all took a small step back when they had blazed green. All of a sudden, various objects in the classroom acquired a green aura and began to float in the air. The next thing Dash knew, Danny was right up in front of him, his eyes filled with energy.

"You have exactly ten seconds to tell me what's going on Dash." He said in a dark tone, causing shivers to run down the spines of everyone in the room.

"We shoot up flares to signal back here." Dash said, who suddenly felt like a small boy in front of this dangerous Danny. "Green is good, red is bad."

"How bad is 'bad'?" Danny demanded as more objects began to levitate.

"It means they're in danger and request immediate backup." Maddie said when Dash seemed unable to answer the powerful teen in front of him. Danny took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, closing his eyes; the room temperature began to return to normal and the levitating objects floated back down and lost their green aura.

"Claremont Street?" Danny asked, his eyes still closed.

"Yes?" Dash responded, not sure where Danny was going with this. Without acknowledging Dash, Danny bent his legs slightly and launched himself upwards, turning intangible before he collided with the ceiling. Danny flew out of the school and through the shield; once through, Danny turned ghost, feeling the familiar rings pass up and down his body, transforming him in Phantom. His hazmat suit hadn't changed and the cloak had remained the same colour. The only thing which changed was the blue clasp which held it together; it was now radioactive green, matching his eye colour. Turning in the right direction, Danny morphed his legs into a spectral tail and flew at full speed towards the warehouses. He knew the way well enough as many of his encounters with the Box Ghost took place in, and around, that particular area. He made it to the area in record breaking time, and Danny wish he hadn't. The surrounding area looked like a warzone; shops were looted, cars were burned out and rubble was everywhere. And then Danny saw the warehouses; they appeared to have fared better than the streets, with only the upper windows having been smashed. What worried Danny was the fact that the entire area was crawling with, what Jack had called, 'Rotters'. They littered the streets, aimlessly wandering around as if having no real purpose. Turning invisible so not to gain any unwanted attention, Danny continued flying down the street until he found the warehouse at the beginning of Claremont Street. Between the masses of walking bodies, Danny could just about make out the burned out remains of red flares on the street. Realising it would be suicide to get the team out through the front, Danny flew over the top of the warehouse to see that there were only about ten of them in the area; all banging on the heavy metal doors at the bottom of the ramp where trucks would deliver and pick up cargo, determined to gain access to those trapped inside. Over the banging, Danny could just about make out frantic voices as they barricaded themselves in; doing anything and everything to put as many obstacles between them and the things trying to attack them. Landing softly behind the determined things, Danny used his ice powers to create a barrier of ice in front of the only access point to the cargo bay at the top of the ramp so he wouldn't gain any unwanted extras. Nodding, Danny turned and whistled sharply, causing all ten heads to whip around to face the teen. Danny snickered when one of them did it too forcefully; their neck cracked viciously as it rotated further than any human neck should and lolled on its shoulder. It seemed not to notice the normally lethal injury; its eyes were still fixed on Danny, as were all the others. All ten were at various stages of decomposition. Some were considerably worse than others with multiple appendages missing, rotting flesh and blood seeping from their mouths. Thinking quickly, Danny decided that he didn't want to take them all on in hand to hand combat like he had done in the shopping centre and so he began to concentrate, his arms outstretched. Just as they began to stumble towards the teen, they suddenly found themselves surrounded in a green aura and no longer touching the ground. Danny flung his arms behind him, and the things flew behind him and hit the barrier made of ice. Now that he was in Phantom form, Danny had more control over his telekinesis; keeping the things in place, Danny concentrated on the barrier itself, which began to engulf its captives in ice until only their heads were visible. Happy that he handled the situation quickly and cleanly, Danny turned his attention back to the closed gate, where the voices and knocking around had ceased.

Walking up to the gate, Danny was suddenly unsure what he should do next. He didn't think just phasing through the gate would do anything for their nerves, so he did the next best thing; he used his telekinesis to raise the gate slowly. When it was about seven foot off the ground, Danny stopped, noticing that various bits of metal and wooden crates had been stacked up against it, but he couldn't detect any movement from within the warehouse.

"Hello?" Danny called out, stepping up to the crudely made barrier. "Anyone in there? Jazz?" Danny waited for a few moments until he heard slight scuffling from inside.

"You from the school?" A male voice called out, one Danny didn't recognise.

"Yes." Danny responded. "They said something about red flares and so here I am."

"You got here quick." Came another voice.

"I took a shortcut." Said Danny, getting frustrated why no one was stepping forwards.

"You mean there's only one of you?" Came a third voice, female this time, sounding sceptical. "What kind of rescue is that?"

"One is all it took." Danny said exasperatedly. "Now are you going to get out of here with me, or are you going to stay like a bunch of fruitloops?" As soon as Danny said that, he heard a small squeak from inside; moments later, Danny could make out someone edging closer to the opening. When the moonlight streaming through the broken windows lit up a pony tail of red hair, it was Danny's turn to gasp.

"Jazz." Danny said breathlessly, as his sister's face came into view between the gaps in the crates.

"Danny?" She asked, hardly believing it. "Is that you?" In response, Danny levitated their makeshift barrier over to one side of the warehouse. Then, as he lowered his hood, he felt the white rings appear at his waist and travel in both directions as Phantom became Fenton. Jazz just stood there, mouth fully agape as she took in the sight of her not-so-baby brother in front of her.

"It's me Jazz." Danny said, rushing forwards to embrace his sister.

"I'm so glad you're ok." Jazz said, tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes, not caring who was watching. "I didn't know if I was going to see you again."

"Yeah," Danny laughed. "I didn't know I was going to be gone for so long. I know that I'm a bit late."

Jazz laughed. "You can say that again."

"Jazz?" Came a voice from behind the hugging siblings. "We all good."

"Yeah Ralph." Jazz said, breaking away from Danny. "We're all good. Let's get out of here; there was nothing here anyway."

"And just how do you propose we do that?" Another person said, walking forwards. Danny recognised it as the girl who sounded sceptical about him earlier. Jazz gave her brother a knowing smile.

"Oh, I'm sure we can think of something." Jazz said, before turning back to her brother. "Is it safe out there on the ramp?"

"About as safe as it's going to get around here." Danny said.

"Alright guys," Jazz started, as the rest of her team came into view, making a grand total of five including Jazz. "Let's file out." Once Danny and Jazz's R&R team left the warehouse and saw the ice barrier where there were ten captive things, all but Danny's jaws hit the ground.

"You took care of ten at once?" Jazz said, shocked after she counted them all.

"Yes?"

"Dude, that's awesome." Exclaimed a different member of Jazz's team. "They're ridiculously fast when they want to be." The one that was called Ralph stepped forward and inspected the ice wall, but from a safe distance. He, so unlike a citizen of Amity Park, put two and two together.

"You're Phantom, aren't you?" He asked Danny, his eyes narrowed. To answer him, Danny changed into Phantom, feeling the familiar rings once again.

"Yes." Danny said. "But you can call me Danny." Ralph regarded him with cold eyes.

"Phantom's fine." He said, before walking over to the girl who had answered Danny before. Danny had been preparing himself for such resentment ever since Dash told him he should expect it, but to have it done to his face was enough make Danny falter. If this had been a film, the sound of crickets would have been heard, or tumbleweed would have crossed their paths as a result of the stifling and uncomfortable silence. Inevitably, the silence was broken as more of the walking things had reached the ice barrier and began banging on it, enticing the captive ones to start growling at the six people stood before them. Soon, they had covered the entire barrier.

"Well that screws up our escape route." Said the guy who praised Danny.

"So how do we get out of here now, Phantom?" Said the female, who was now glaring at the teen.

"Leave it out Holly." Jazz said, a hint of venom in her voice, angered at how she was treating her brother. She then edged a bit closer to Danny. "You do have a plan, don't you Danny?"

Danny nodded. "I do. Though I was hoping not to use it."

"What do you mean?" She asked worriedly.

"You'll find out when we get back to the school." Danny said in a resigned voice, before turning to face everyone, three out of five of them giving him cold looks. "Everyone, grip onto my arm and don't let go."

"Why should we do that?" Said the final member of the team whom Danny hadn't heard from yet.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Danny said sarcastically, still hurt from the way he had been spoken to previously. "I didn't realise you wanted to stay here and play with your new friends. For all of those who want to leave and not end up as something's plaything, you will get over here now and _grab my arm._" Danny's tone was enough to put everyone on edge, including Jazz.

_I had no idea he could sound so dangerous, _she thought to herself as she placed her hand on Danny's shoulder. One by one, members of her team gathered closer and each placed a hand, albeit grudgingly in some cases, on Danny's outstretched arms.

"You're going to want to hold tighter than that." Danny said, when he felt that some of the hands on him were tentative. "Come on, tighter. I'm not sure what will happen to you if you let go midway, but I'm sure it won't be pleasant." He didn't even say it in a threatening way, but there was something about his words which spurned everyone to grip Danny's arms as tightly as possible. When he was positive that everyone was holding on firmly, Danny closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

"Everybody take a deep breath." He said calmly; energy began to charge around Danny's body, causing every one of his nerve endings to tingle. When Danny released it, all six of them disappeared in a shroud of green smoke.

A split second later, the six them reappeared just inside the school, right in front of the main doors to the school. The moment their feet hit the corridor floor, they all released Danny's arm, doubling over as they suddenly became nauseated.

"Just take deep breaths." Danny said, who appeared not to be affected by the teleporting. "It will pass quickly." Without even looking at him, three of the five members of the group just stumbled down the corridor and disappeared from sight without saying a word.

"You're welcome." Danny mumbled, as he watched them turn the corner, leaving them alone.

"Don't take any notice of them." Said the guy who had praised Danny before. "They've all got younger siblings to take care of. Some of their parents never made it when we took the school, so they've had to take up a guardian role. I'm Trent, by the way."

"Danny." Danny said, holding out his hand to shake Trent's, but his mind was focussed on Ralph, Holly and the other guy. He now understood why they had given him the cold-shoulder, but that didn't make it any easier for him. Noticing this, Jazz took Danny's arm and led him down the corridor.

"Come on Danny." She said gently. "Let's go find Mom and Dad. They'll want to know we're back. You've also got a lot of explaining to do." They bade farewell to Trent at the end of the corridor; Trent went left and the siblings went right towards the Chemistry classrooms. Walking in, they barely made it five steps before they were launched upon by their parents.

"Thank goodness you're alright Jazzy-Pants." Jack said, lifting his daughter into a bone-crushing hug with ease.

"We knew you'd rescue her Danny." Maddie said, gripping her son almost as strongly as Jack holding his daughter. They stayed like that until Maddie started shivering. "Umm, honey? Would you mind er, changing back? You're freezing when you're in your Phantom form."

Danny chuckled slightly. "Sorry. I forgot." With that, he changed back into Fenton. It was then that Danny collapsed slightly as the events of the past twenty fours hour caught up to him.

"Danny?" Maddie asked fearfully. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Mom." Danny said. "I just need to sit down."

"What's wrong Danny-Boy?" Jack asked, having released a very thankful and sore Jazz.

"It's nothing Dad, really." Danny assured Jack. "I just haven't had much rest in a while. I came straight from a twenty hour training session in the Ghost Zone, to here, expecting to collapse on my bed and sleep for a week. Instead, I end up rescuing Joan and Ellie and fought off a few of those things wandering around. Then straight to here where I used my telekinesis in human form. Then flying at full speed and using even more telekinesis but ice powers at the same time. But what really topped it off was teleporting after all that. To be honest, I was expecting to be out for the count when I changed back into Fenton."

"My poor ba-." Maddie started, stroking her fingers through Danny's hair, before being interrupted by Jack.

"You teleported?" He asked excitedly, practically bouncing on his one leg. "Man that's cool. Can you do it again son?" Danny couldn't help but laugh.

"Ask me tomorrow." Danny said smiling, making his way over to one of the desks and sitting down. "If I do it again now without resting first, I reckon I'll be unconscious for hours. Teleporting is still fairly new for me at the moment."

"Yeah, easy Dad." Jazz said, walking over as well and pulling up a seat next to her brother. "Besides, Danny should refrain from using his powers for now because we're not letting him leave until he tells us what happened in the Ghost Zone. With all the details." Danny exhaled deeply and glanced at the clock situated above the door to the classroom; it read quarter past one in the morning.

He looked to Maddie. "Is there any hot chocolate around here? I have a feeling it's going to be a long night."

Ten minutes later, the Fenton family were sat around one of the desks, each nursing a hot drink in their hands.

"I guess I should start when I stepped through the portal?" Danny asked.

"That would be best honey." Maddie said.

"Well it turns out, the portal Clockwork created for me put me right outside the Citadel of the Ancients."

"Wow." Jazz said breathlessly. "That sounds amazing. I don't even know what it is but it sounds amazing."

"It was Jazz." Danny said. "Think of the Amphitheatre in Rome, combined with the Parthenon in Athens. There were obelisks; hundreds of them, surrounding the Citadel, so tall it looked as if they were touching the sky. Each of them were made of different materials; some were made of stone, others were made of metal and some were made of materials that probably don't exist in the Human Realm. It seems, despite many ghosts thinking humans as inferior to them, they are obsessed with our Ancient History and its architecture."

"That sounds incredible." Maddie said, awe in her voice.

"Do they have any significant meaning behind them?" Jazz asked, her fascination with ancient architecture coming through.

"Each obelisk is dedicated to a ghost who has proven himself beyond all measure." Danny said hurriedly. "Anyway, once inside-."

"Hang on, wait a second." Jazz interrupted, not missing the speed in which he had said that last part. Danny tried to keep his face stoic as she began to scrutinise it. Her eyes then suddenly widened. "You've got one, haven't you?" Danny groaned as Maddie clapped her hands to her mouth, whereas Jack started cheering.

"My son's got an obelisk!" He shouted, not caring that people were probably trying to sleep elsewhere in the school.

"Well, actually Dad," Danny began, rubbing the back of his neck. "I have two." Jack stopped mid-chant to stare at his son, as were his mother and sister, before continuing his chant.

"My son's got _two _obelisks!"

"Why do you have two Danny?" Jazz asked, as Maddie tried to calm Jack down who begun waving his staff around.

"One for defeating Pariah Dark, and one for the whole Disasteroid thing." Danny said, but Jazz saw that he was holding something back.

"You expected to see three, didn't you?" She whispered so that their parents didn't overhear them. Danny nodded. "Clockwork explained to me when I asked about it. Turns out, no one outside of Clockwork and the Observants know anything about what happened with Dan. They thought it best that no one should know about him, otherwise I would be an even larger target than I already am."

"Therefore having an obelisk to commemorate it would blow the whistle on it." Jazz said, putting two and two together.

"Exactly." Danny said.

"What are yours made out of Danny?" Maddie said, entering the conversation, having succeeded in calming down Jack.

"Ecto-ice." Danny replied. "Frostbite took it upon himself to design and make mine. I'll make some replicas for you in the morning. I don't really want to run any risk of falling asleep when I need answers from you three, as well as you want answers from me."

"Fair enough." Jazz said. "So carry on. What happened once you were inside?"

"It was basically the same as being awarded by the President." Danny said. "Only the entire area was filled to bursting point of ghosts. My senses were also in overdrive, so every time I heard them shuffle around in their seats, I thought they were going to attack me."

"Sounds pretty intense." Jack said.

"It was." Danny admitted. "But so were the Ancients. You could literally feel the power they had radiating off of them. It was amazing that, despite having seven of them stood there, the entire building didn't blow up."

"So what did they give you?" Jack asked excitedly.

Danny chuckled, and pointed to the jewel which held his cloak together. "Basically the same deal as with the medal. Something just to show that I had been honoured."

"I did notice that it changes colour depending on what form you're in?" Queried Maddie.

"Yeah. No one explained it to me, but I think that it's made of some kind of mineral ectoplasm. So when I change, the ectoplasm in me interacts with the jewel and changes the colour."

"I take it they gave you the cloak as well?" Guessed Jazz.

"Yeah," Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "The jewel is a symbol of honour and bravery, but the cloak is a symbol of power."

"Power?" Maddie asked, now paying full attention to Danny's cloak.

"When you're a ghost, and you have some sort of cloak or cape, it symbolises that you are more powerful than most ghosts." Danny explained. "Clockwork, the Observers, the Ancients, Fright Knight, Vlad and Undergrowth all have cloaks or capes. Hence why they're more powerful and more difficult to beat." Danny noticed when Jack and Maddie flinched at the mention of Vlad's name, but he overlooked it.

"So does this mean that you're more powerful now because of the cloak, or you were powerful enough to receive it?" Jazz asked.

"Powerful enough to receive it." Danny said. "And it looks like I'm growing more powerful as time goes by, which explains the new powers I'm getting."

"That's right." Maddie said, pushing her hatred for Vlad deep down. "You went to train your telekinesis."

"That, among other things."

"What other powers have you got Danny-Boy?" Jack asked, his levels of excitement growing once again, the mentioning of his previous college best friend being purged from his mind.

"Telekinesis and teleporting, obviously. Although teleporting was the last one I learned and it still drains me every time I use it. Not as much as my Wail, but enough to hinder me when used too much." Danny said. "I finally perfected duplication, so no more extra heads for me. Frostbite spent some time with me and taught me to use my ice powers with more finesse. This has allowed me to combine my ice powers with my accelerated healing rate, meaning I can transfer some of that power to others; effectively, I can heal people. Also, after two months of gruelling training, all my current powers have increased tenfold; basically, I'm faster, stronger, my senses have sharpened and can manipulate ectoplasm far more easily." Danny drained the rest of his drink as he watched his family's faces drop at what he had just told them. After a while, Maddie finally brought herself together to speak again.

"Do you think we can test you Danny?" She asked. "I'd like to see how much you've improved by."

"That's fine Mom." Danny chuckled, who couldn't help but smile at the scientist coming through. "But now, I think it's time I got some answers. So who wants to go first?" His parents and Jazz gave each other a look, before Jazz looked back at the clock again; it read just before two in the morning.

"We're going to need some more drinks." She said, draining the rest of hers too.

"I suppose we should start at how long you've been gone." Maddie said, giving her son a sad look.

"Please." Danny begged, desperate to know. "I know I've been gone longer than two months. There's no way all this could have happened in such a short amount of time."

"You're right, and wrong son." Jack said, his excited face now replaced with one of sadness. "It has been longer than two months, but whatever this thing is, it happened far quicker than any of us could have imagined possible."

"How long?" Danny asked again.

"A year." Maddie said; Danny's jaw dropped. "Thirteen months to be exact." Once again, Danny had braced himself, but he was still knocked back a bit at this revelation. It took him a while to find his voice.

"What happened?" He finally asked.

"It all started about the week before you were due to return." Jazz started. "There were reported incidences of people violently attacking each other in California. No one really gave it a second thought, until the reports then said that people were killing each other, and then eating them."

"_Eating _them_?_" Asked a disgusted Danny.

"If only that were the worst part." Jack said, glancing at his amputated leg. That's when Danny realised why they had taken off his leg once he had been bitten.

"You become one of them when they bite you, don't you?" Danny asked, suddenly understanding. "That's why you did what you did."

"Yes." Said Maddie, as she remembered that awful night when they had to tie Jack down and cut his leg off. The screams had lasted for hours. "We weren't ready to lose your father just yet, so we took drastic measures."

_I'm glad it worked, _Danny thought, looking at Jack. "What happened next?"

"California all of a sudden went dark. No news, no announcements; the entire country began to get nervous. Next thing we knew, there were the same reported incidences in Oregon, Nevada and Arizona. People attacking each other in the streets, families killing each other and neighbours eating one another."

"Now, Geography wasn't my best subject," started Danny, struggling to remember where the fifty states were. "But I'm pretty sure all three of those border California."

"You're right." Confirmed Jazz. "But within a month, those three states had gone dark too. Then the states bordering them began to exhibit the same occurrences. That's when we figured out that, whatever was happening, was the result of some kind of pathogen or contagion."

"That's when the country began to panic." Jack said. "States began to close themselves off, out of fear of whatever this was. There was looting, mass hysteria and many deaths, but not due to this _infection._"

"Mankind's darkest moment." Maddie said.

"Anyway," Jazz began again. "More and more people were beginning to turn. Despite States sealing themselves off, it wasn't enough. Soon, it was everywhere. By the time the UN tried to quarantine the US, it was too late. The infection had got on planes and boats, and soon there were reports of these events all across the world. It became a pandemic."

"But how did you guys survive?" Danny asked, trying to process everything he had been told. "And how do you know so much?"

"We had more time to prepare than other places." Maddie said. "But it wasn't enough. Many people had fled when we got our first taste of this infection. Out of desperation, we activated our home Ghost Shield when they became frequent sightings, like what we did when that skeleton army invaded a few years back. But to our amazement, the _things_ were repelled by it. Almost like they were being electrocuted by touching it."

_I know the feeling, _Danny thought.

"This led us to hypothesise that whatever the origins of this infection was, it contained trace amounts of ectoplasm." Jazz said. "That's why they were affected by the Ghost Shield."

"But there was a hitch." Jack said. "When we tried to expand it over the entire town, they found it easier to get through, so we had to limit its radius quite drastically."

"Because of that, many people began to flock here for protection, but we soon came to the conclusion that our house wasn't big enough. We contemplated going into the Ghost Zone as a place of sanctuary, but the portal closed itself off from us." Maddie said.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked. "How can it do that?"

"We spent a month trying to figure that out, but to no avail." Jack said. "Natural portals ceased to occur; we even sent a group up to Vlad's to see if his portal was the same. Needless to say, it was."

"By this point, the house was at bursting point." Jazz said. "So someone had the idea of using the school. It's large so it has plenty of space for those who remained in Amity, and for those seek refuge."

"It was hard work, but we managed to secure the school, moved all of our equipment and made it safe." Maddie said. "We've been here four months now."

"How did you know about the UN and its quarantine plan though?" Danny asked. "I thought you said States were going dark?"

"When we found out that Ghost Shields worked in repelling them," began Maddie. "We managed to get word to Washington D.C. and told them about it. They immediately sent a convoy over to collect one for themselves. In return, they send us monthly reports by radio. I think there are about twenty five cities across the East Coast which has working Ghost Shields." Danny just sat there, nursing his long since cold drink; his family feared that they had overloaded him with information.

"How is light?" He suddenly asked.

"What do you mean honey?" Maddie asked.

Danny looked up. "The power grid should have given out ages ago, so how do you have electricity?"

"Ectoplasm Danny-Boy." Jack said. "It has amazing energy-like qualities when tweaked. A quart can give us enough fuel to last us six months."

"But you said the portals are closed?" Danny asked, confused. "So how do you replenish your supplies?"

"We get donations every few months." Maddie said, suddenly becoming uncomfortable. Danny all of a sudden became very angry.

"I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and hope that you haven't got a captured ghost here and are taking its ectoplasm." He said, his jaw clenched.

"No no no." Jazz said hurriedly. "Nothing like that Danny. Before the portals closed, some ghosts were left stranded on this side. We've joined forces, albeit reluctantly, with them. But there have been some issues."

"What issues?" Danny asked, his anger changing to concern.

"There are quite a few people here who don't trust them, as they too worked out that the things out there are repelled by the shield." Jazz said. It dawned on Danny.

"So they know ectoplasm was a part of it, therefore they blame the ghosts." Danny said, receiving nods from his family.

"Though none of us think that sweetie." Maddie said, hoping not to anger her son again. "We know they have nothing to do with it. Others just need a bit more convincing."

Danny took a deep breath. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get angry with you. It's just another reason for people to hate me around here."

"It's perfectly understandable son." Jack said. "Like we said, it's only a few people who don't trust them. Um, but there are quite a few, um, people who don't trust you."

"Yeah," Danny said. "Dash told me as such. Looks like my stay here will be interesting."

"Come on Danny," began Jazz. "Let's get you some rest. It's been quite a day. We'll talk more when you wake up later." Nodding, Danny got to his feet, bade goodnight to his parents, and allowed Jazz to lead him out of the Chemistry classroom. At this time of the morning, the corridors were dead, so Danny didn't have to worry about any uncomfortable or awkward meetings. Danny was so wrapped up in his thoughts at everything he had just been told, he scarcely registered walking into his old English classroom; it contained three sleeping bags and a random assortment of weapons and clothes.

"Typical that you would choose an English room to be a bedroom." Chuckled Danny, earning a light-hearted punch from Jazz.

"Shut up," she laughed, reaching into the closet where supplies are usually kept; instead, she brought out another sleeping bag and threw it to Danny. "Mom and Dad like it too, despite hardly sleeping in here. They tend to work through the night and fall asleep at their workstations. Now get some rest little brother. Tomorrow, we set you to work."

"Sounds like fun," Danny said, climbing into his sleeping bag. Using his telekinesis, he turned off the light switch, earning a scoff from his sister.

"Show off." She said, chuckling slightly.

"Nah, just lazy." Danny said. Then a thought came to his mind. "Hey Jazz?"

"Yes Danny?" Jazz replied sleepily.

"Who was it that had the idea of using the school?" He asked; he was answered only with silence. "Jazz?" Once again, silence.

"Has anyone mentioned the football field yet?" She asked, her voice quivering ever so slightly.

"Yeah," Danny replied, worried about his sister's sudden change in tone. "Dash said something about how I should have a look when I get the chance. Why? What's down there?"

"Just, go down there when you can." Was all she said, before turning over, effectively ending the conversation. Danny turned away from his sister and looked out the window; now that the lights were off, Danny could see that the Ghost Shield was radiating a light green glow which dimly lit the classroom. Danny couldn't help but be reminded by the Ghost Zone. The last thing Danny remembered before he succumbed to sleep, were the quiet tears of his sister.

**I know in the show, it is never very clear as to where Amity Park is; only that it is near Wisconsin. So for the sake of this story, Amity Park is in Illinois, therefore being closer to Washington D.C. than California. Once again, I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter and continue to read on. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	4. Chapter 4

Dawn broke across the sky of Amity Park; instead of the green sunlight streaming through the windows to wake Danny up, it casted his shadow across the end zone of the football field. Despite needing rest to recuperate, Danny had a restless night's sleep as his mind kept processing all the information he had been told by his family. One thought above all though which prevented him from sleeping, was the mysterious object on the field which he had been told was important twice. And now he knew why; it was a memorial statue. To be specific, it was Mr Lancer's memorial statue. Danny had actually recoiled slightly, as its resemblance to the one created when Danny's family and he had died as a result of the Nasty Burger exploding was uncanny. Though this time, the plaque read: GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN. Danny couldn't help the small smile creeping onto his face as he was happy that his teacher was finally given the appreciation he deserved, but it was dismissed just as quickly at the price Mr Lancer had to pay in order to achieve it. Fighting back the urge to cry, Danny was about to leave when he noticed there were more words scribbled under the plaque. Kneeling down, Danny's eyes widened when he realised they were names; almost a hundred names had been crudely scratched onto the statue. Some were illegible, but Danny's stomach twisted when he saw names he recognised. This time, Danny's willpower crumbled as the tears began to flow freely.

"Danny?" A voice abruptly asked from behind him. Instinctively, Danny turned invisible and lit his hands up with ecto-energy as he faced another person wearing a balaclava and ski mask. The person continued to stare straight at where they knew he was standing.

"Danny?" They asked again, Danny now registering that the voice was female. "Is that you?" Slowly, the person reached up to remove their face gear and Danny came face to face with another one of his classmates. Danny allowed the energy in his hands to dissipate as he dropped his invisibility and lowered his hood.

"Valerie." He said, gazing upon his ex-crush. The two stood like that, staring at one another until Valerie suddenly rushed forwards and enveloped Danny in a strong hug.

"I'm glad to see you're ok Ghost Boy." Valerie whispered.

"Me too Val." Danny said. "Me too."

"You've grown I see." She said, pulling away, her eyes red as she inspected Danny's broad frame. "And got some new clothes."

"I can say the same for you." Danny said, smiling. "The clothes anyway. Not so much the growing." Valerie slapped his arm as she chuckled.

"Enough of that." She said, then gesturing to her attire. "But yeah, I'm on one of the R&R teams. I just got back half an hour ago when I heard stories of Phantom saving a mother and daughter, and then again with another R&R team. Still got the hero complex even after a year then?"

"Yeah." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I suppose I have. It's only been two months for me though."

"Figures as much." Valerie said. "I knew you wouldn't have been gone so long without a good reason. Any ideas as to why you're a year late?"

"I don't even know where to begin." Danny said, sighing. "The portals sealing themselves off may have affected Clockwork's when he sent me back. But only the Ancients have enough power to do that. Then again, maybe Clockwork purposely delayed my return; if so, there must be a reason as to why he's done that." Whilst Danny was mumbling to himself, Valerie just looked on with a confused expression.

"You do realise I have no idea who the 'Ancients' or this 'Clockwork' are, right?" She asked.

"Sorry," Danny said. "It's a long story. Basically, Clockwork is the Master of Time, and the Ancients are, well. Actually, I have no idea who they are. They're effectively the Rulers of the Ghost Zone and are ridiculously powerful." Once again, Valerie just stared at Danny, but with a look of worry rather than confusion.

"It's a good thing I've got a truce with the ghosts then." She said. "I don't think I would like to get on the wrong side of them."

"You're not wrong." Danny said, stealing a glance back to the statue, which didn't go unnoticed by Valerie.

"He was very brave." She said, taking his arm. "Come on. Let's go inside. We can carry on talking whilst I give you the grand tour."

"Hey Val? Can I ask you something?" Danny said as they came up to the Gymnasium.

"What's on your mind?" She asked.

"I was just wondering why you don't hate me."

Valerie chuckled. "Straight to the point I see." Danny shrugged.

"I've done enough procrastinating to last me a lifetime." Danny said.

"Fair point." She said. "But to answer your question, I don't hate you. I thought I did for a while, but when all the facts are staring you in the face, it's hard to keep lying to yourself."

"Facts?" Danny asked.

"Yeah," confirmed Valerie. "Finding out Vlad was half ghost when we rescued Dani, then finally realising her human form was the spitting image of yours. Then after you revealed yourself, I went back and checked all the old news footage of the robberies and the whole thing with the previous mayor."

"Let me guess, you noticed the red eyes?"

"Yeah." Valerie said guiltily. "Sorry I kept trying to shoot you."

"Let bygones be bygones. It was good exercise." Danny said, smiling as they reached the double doors leading to the Gymnasium. "Let's get back to the tour. What's in the Gym?"

"This is where we whip everyone into shape." Valerie said, opening the doors. The entire room had been split into two; the first half was that of the Gym Danny remembered before he left, but the other half was a stark contrast. It had been set up like a military rifle range with a selection of different sized dummies and at different distances. Each of them was humanoid in shape and had glowing green targets on their foreheads and chests. When Danny asked about this, Valerie just shrugged.

"Those are the targets we aim for when going against _them_." She said. "Getting shot in the chest causes them to stumble around for a bit and become dazed. When they get shot in the head, they're knocked out for about an hour, but it can vary from time to time."

"Wait, so you don't kill them?" Danny asked, surprised, but also relieved. The three times he had encountered whatever they were, he had been careful as to not cause more harm than necessary. He still felt guilty when he had punched one of their arms off, despite it not even realising that had happened.

Valerie scoffed. "Of course we don't. What do you take us for?" Danny answered with silence, knowing full well that what he could say could damage any form of friendship he was forming with Valerie. Valerie took one look at Danny and knew instantly what was running through his mind.

"Sorry," she said, having the good grace to look sheepish. "We've done a lot of growing up since before all that Disasteroid business. We don't kill them because that would make us exactly like them. Once we start down that slippery slope, it would get harder to draw the line."

Danny gave an approving nod at Valerie's confession. "Very mature of you guys."

"It also doesn't help that there will always be cases where we end up facing ones we know, and killing them wouldn't sit right with anyone." Valerie said. "But…"

"Don't 'but' me Val." Danny said, turning to face her. "'But' is one small step away from 'well', and the last time someone said that to me, I found out that my dad lost half of one of his legs. Even though he prefers the substitute, that's completely beside the point. Tell me what's going on." Valerie gave Danny a sad look before talking again.

"Let's walk some more. There are some things you need to know."

"Basically," Valerie began as the duo left the Gymnasium. "There are two, _issues_, that you have to prepare yourself for when living here. And no, I don't just mean your random disappearance and inexplicable reappearance."

"It can't get much worse than that, can it?" Danny asked, as once again they passed a couple of people who actively avoided meeting Danny's eyes, causing him to sigh once more.

"They'll forgive you in time." Valerie reassured him, before her tone of voice turned to one of exasperation. "But these two things I reckon are permanent. At least for the foreseeable future."

"Go on then," Danny said, slightly perturbed by the change in tone. "Hit me with them."

"The first one is the army." Valerie said. Danny couldn't help but notice the way she said it; almost as if the word left a bitter aftertaste.

"I'm surprised an army still exists." Danny said honestly, failing to see why they would be an issue.

"Believe me, we wish they didn't."

"What's wrong with them?" Danny asked. "Surely they're helping?"

"That depends on your definition of 'helping'." Valerie said angrily. "If you mean 'helping' in the traditional sense of the word, the answer would be no. If you mean it in what the Guys in White saw themselves as doing, then the answer would be yes."

Danny's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious?"

"Deadly." Valerie said through gritted teeth. "They come every month or so, but it's never a pleasant visit."

"What do they do?" Danny asked apprehensively.

"Just to be clear, not all of them are assholes." Valerie said. "Just most of them. They use their own guns, with actual bullets." Then it dawned on Danny.

"They kill them, don't they?"

"Sadistically." Valerie confirmed. "They take great pleasure in killing as many as possible, and then bragging about it afterwards; paying no heed to the fact that they could have gunned down somebody's loved one."

_Definitely like the Guys in White_, Danny thought, becoming angry himself before confusion set in. "Doesn't sound like the army I remember though."

"That's because they're not. New President, new army." Valerie said.

"New President?" Danny asked disbelievingly. "What happened to the old one? Everyone loved him."

"I know what you mean." Valerie said reminiscently. "But apparently, he was only fit for a time of peace, so to speak. But now, as peace is a thing of the past, a new President was seen as being needed. One that isn't exactly a nice guy." Danny suddenly got a terrible feeling.

"Please tell me it's not Erikson?"

Valerie stopped to look at Danny. "How did you know that?"

"Great," Danny said, face palming. "Just great."

"You know the guy?"

"I know him alright. He was head of the Secret Service and he didn't like Clockwork or me when I was meeting the ex-President. So he probably really hates those things out there more so than most people."

"And most of the army feel the same way." Valerie said as they resumed walking. "I'm sure your parents or Jazz has said there are a few ghosts stranded on this side?"

"Yes?" Danny queried.

"Well, whenever the army stay, they take it upon themselves to liberate our armoury of some weapons and start attacking them."

"They what?" Danny asked outraged, his eyes flashing radioactive green, startling Valerie.

Valerie held her hands up. "Hey, we don't agree with it Danny. We actually like, to a certain extent, the ghosts we have here. We always make sure our armoury is locked tight, but that doesn't stop the army from trying. They've not done any real damage, but it pisses the ghosts off to no end, causing them to become reluctant when we ask them for help."

"Well now I'm really looking forward to meeting them." Danny said with a hint of malevolence in his voice. Valerie couldn't blame him.

"You'll have your chance sooner than you think." Valerie said, wondering what the teen was planning. "They're due a visit in the next couple of days."

"How long do they stay for?" Danny asked, his mood thoroughly soured now.

"Only for a few days at a time, which is a small mercy I suppose." Valerie said. "They only come with updates and get ecto-filters if needed, but tension and hostility is pretty much a guarantee whilst they're here."

"Typical." Danny said. "Does everyone feel like that towards them?"

"Most of us." Valerie said. "Like I said, not all the army are like that. There's probably half a dozen of them who are actually quite pleasant to be around." Danny had a sneaking suspicion there was something Valerie wasn't telling him. Since being in the Ghost Zone, Clockwork had trained him to develop his perceptive skills to allow Danny to read enemy body language to determine what they're about to do next; from the way Valerie was talking to him, he could tell she was hiding something. However, before he could question her, they had come to the Library where Danny could hear talking from within.

"Er, Val?" Danny asked. "What are we doing at the Library?"

"I told you there were two issues." Valerie said, gesturing towards the door. "Welcome to issue number two."

Pushing the doors open softly, they entered the Library to something Danny would never have expected to see. The curtains had been drawn and the whole room was lit candles; coupled with this was the thick scent of incense being burned, giving the room a sort of an eerie and mystical feeling. Tables had been lined up to make a series of makeshift pews and multiple large books had been stacked on top of each other to create the general shape of an altar. Stood behind the altar was a boy, who appeared to be no older than Danny; it was he was talking to about a dozen people sat in the pews, who were listening intently. Just as Danny was about to move forwards, Valerie grasped his arm tightly.

"Don't." She whispered. "It would be better if he didn't see y…us." Danny noticed the slipup, but didn't comment. He would ask her later. Instead, he turned them both invisible and walked forwards. The teen was of medium build with short blonde hair. His face, to Danny, could be argued as being friendly but his brown eyes were more than off putting; they would switch from being filled with life and passion one moment, to being cold and dead the next.

"And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples that wage war: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths." He said exuberantly, holding his arms out in the air, captivating his audience. "Those lost souls out there, wandering aimlessly and giving in to the temptation of the damned is the Lord's test. His test, to weed out the faithless, and to reward the faithful." Danny just continued to look on in confusion at what he was witnessing, Valerie had a look of contempt and those sat in the 'pews' looked to be entranced by anything and everything the boy was saying.

"We must take this opportunity to throw off the shackles of Evil and repent." The boy continued.

"_Repent._" The room repeated in low voices.

"Come on Danny." Valerie whispered. "He's giving me a headache already." Despite being invisible, Danny nodded. Grasping Valerie's arm, Danny floated off the ground, and headed towards the door, turning intangible to go through it. Landing on the other side, Danny released his invisibility and let go of Valerie.

"Well that was an interesting sixty seconds." Danny said, glancing back to the Library door before facing Valerie. "Mind telling me what that was about? And why would it be better if he didn't see me."

Valerie's eyes widened. "How?"

Danny sighed and pointed to his ear. "Hyper sensitive hearing Val. There's not much I don't hear. Explain."

"That kid's name is Paul." Valerie explained, the disdain in her voice returning. "I suppose you could call him the local 'Priest'. And the others were most of his 'congregation'."

"You make it sound like a cult." Danny stated.

"Might be too strong a word." Valerie said, as she struggled to formulate the right way to phrase it. "People deal with shock and loss in different ways, as is their right as human beings. We each put our faith in something that helps us face each new day as it comes. Paul happens to offer a religious outlet in which around twenty people here have found comfort in."

"So why the animosity towards him?" Danny asked confused. "Sounds like he's doing something helpful and supportive here."

"He was to begin with. Most of his group were the most troubled when they came here; either always starting fights or becoming extremely recluse. He helped them in more ways than one. But there's only so much religion you can take having preached at you on a daily basis." Valerie said. "And boy does he like to preach. Constantly saying how this is all God's wrath, all this is happening because we have sinned and that we should embrace 'His' will."

"Why does that sound more threatening than it should?" Queried Danny, wondering to himself whether or not this Paul character was a threat to those around him.

"He's harmless enough, but he has been known to start arguments and the odd fight around here over choice in beliefs." Valerie said. "He's more talk than anything. But as he is seen as being a help to certain individuals, some of his discrepancies are overlooked."

"Sounds like a recipe for disaster personally." Danny said, taking another glance towards the Library.

"You're not wrong there." Valerie confirmed, who began to walk again, gesturing Danny to follow.

"But what did you mean it would be best if he didn't see me?" Danny asked, making a point not to look at people they passed in the corridor; it was getting later on in the morning now and more people were emerging from their slumber. Danny noticed the look of discomfort on Valerie's face but he wasn't about to let the matter drop; being stuck with Clockwork's incessant riddles and cryptic answers for two months had caused Danny to become quite obstinate. "Tell me Valerie."

Valerie sighed and her shoulder's slumped. "You remember what I was like before everything happened with Dani? As in my attitude towards ghosts, but er, specifically you?"

"Yes." Danny stated bluntly, causing Valerie to flinch. Danny hadn't meant to sound harsh but he was getting annoyed at her evasiveness.

"Paul is much worse." She finally said. "He has a malicious vendetta against them which could rival mine against you. Despite having no qualms about how they aid in saving lives and helping us survive, he still views them as monsters that need to be destroyed. He makes no secret that he hates them, but he will always make sure none of them are within earshot when he does so. There's also a rumour going around that he's the one helping the army get access to the armoury, but we've yet to get proof." Danny's eyes had flashed green in anger when Valerie said 'monsters'.

"Sounds like a wonderful chap." Danny said, his words dripping with sarcasm. "I'll be looking forward to speaking with him as well."

"'Chap'?" Valerie asked. "Have you already spoken to the Doc?" Her words caused memories of talking to Jack to stir.

"His first name wouldn't happen to be George, would it?" Danny asked.

"I'll take that as a no." Valerie said. "Looks like he's our next port of call. And yes, his first name is George, but we know him as the Doc. He operates out of the Nurse's Office."

It took the two of them twenty minutes to walk to the Nurse's Office on the other side of the school. By which point, the corridors were more alive with people going about their daily business. Despite trying to ignore their looks or glares, Danny could still hear their mutterings and murmurs long after they had passed them. Upon reaching the door, Danny had decided that he preferred the company of ghosts over the humans who roamed these halls, present company excluded. Even with the revelation of Valerie's epiphany about Danny, he was still in a bad mood.

"This is where I leave you Danny." Valerie said. "I need to attend a debriefing before getting some breakfast and then sleep." Danny's sour mood was instantly replaced with one of guilt.

"I'm sorry if I kept you up Val." Danny said apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't worry." Valerie said, smiling once more since she first saw him. "It was my pleasure. I'll catch you later." With that, she gave Danny one more quick hug before turning on her heels and walked back down the corridor they had just come from. Turning to face the door fully, Danny knocked on the door, only to be met with silence.

Just as he about to knock once more, Danny heard a jovial voice from within. "Come in!" Opening the door, Danny barely made it one step before he collided with someone with the intent on leaving the office. Well, they would have collided if Danny hadn't turn intangible instinctively, allowing the individual to pass straight through him. Before he got the opportunity to apologise, the person, a girl who seemed to be around the same age as Ellie, squeaked and gave him a fearful look before darting away. Slightly seething, Danny waved his hand forcefully, causing it to slam shut.

"You must be the Fenton fellow I've had the pleasure of hearing about?" Asked a voice with a distinct English accent from behind him. Turning, Danny came face to face with a man whom could only be described as a mad scientist with a kind face. He wore the traditional white lab coat, which Danny couldn't help but slightly blanch at before quickly composing himself; its pockets bulging with various medical utensils. His hair was stark white, strikingly similar to Danny's when in Phantom form, and he had a stethoscope hanging around his neck. Everything about him screamed peculiarity; despite the white coat, Danny liked him straight away.

"I do apologise about that rather impolite first impression." He said ruefully. "My daughter Victoria is still adjusting to the idea of ghosts and their supernatural abilities. I am positive she meant no disrespect."

"Don't worry about it. I've come to expect it from humans." Danny said, shrugging before holding out his hand. "I'm Danny Fenton. A pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." He said cheerily, grasping the teenager's hand firmly. "I am Doctor George Blackwood, but everyone around here calls me Doc. I am the resident Medical Consultant."

"Were you here before all this broke out?" Danny asked, wondering how an Englishman made his way over the Atlantic at the time of an apocalypse.

"No, after." George said, gesturing to a seat. "I was working out of Oxford University when I was cordially invited to aid the CDC in determining the cause of this infection. We aimed to arrive in Iowa, which was supposedly the next quarantined State which was still free from infection. Needless to say, upon arrival, we were too late to do anything. The infection was far more aggressive than anyone could anticipate. It was only coincidence, and copious amounts of luck that we found ourselves in your little town in the next State over."

"How did you make it?" Danny asked, taking a seat. "I don't mean to be rude this time, but it seems unlikely that it was just you two by yourselves."

George sighed sombrely. "Normally you would be correct Daniel. Just as the base was being overrun, we were thrown into a vehicle with the local military base's Chef and told to get as far away as possible. Many honourable men were lost that night." Danny remained silent as he allowed the man in front of him to grieve; he was in no rush to hurry him. After wiping away a final tear, the Doctor's face took on a more content expression.

"So what can I do for you Mr Fenton this fine morning?" He asked, before furrowing his brow. "Or do you prefer Phantom?"

Danny shrugged. "Danny is fine Doc, but you can call me Phantom when I'm in my Ghost form if it makes you feel comfortable."

"Will do." George said.

"But as to why I'm here, I have no idea." Danny said. "I suppose Valerie just wanted me to get to know the main goings on around here. Hopefully I won't require your services too often though. No offence." George laughed.

"None taken." He said, smiling. "But do you have any questions for me?" Danny took a moment to think about it.

"From the little bits I've heard from Jazz and my parents, whatever this thing is, it acts like a virus." He said.

"Very astute of you." George said, motioning for him to continue.

"But it's not airborne yet, otherwise there would be no one left." Danny continued. "So it transfers itself from person to person. Is it only done through bites, or does it not matter? As long as it gets into the bloodstream?"

"From the cases we've seen, victims only turn when they have been bitten." The Doctor explained. "Though I wouldn't recommend swallowing any blood whilst you're here. Just to be on the safe side."

"Duly noted." Chuckled Danny, before a thought came to him. "What about ghosts? What happens if they get bit?"

"Honestly," began George, rubbing the back of his neck similarly to what Danny does. "I haven't the foggiest. The infection itself is ectoplasmic in origin, so logically, it shouldn't have any effect on ghosts. Their ability to become intangible is also in their favour. However…" Danny sighed.

_If anything, 'however' is worse than 'but' and 'well'. _"What is it?"

"Due to your, _uniqueness_, any assumptions about what this infection may or may not do to you is highly problematic." George said, trying to be delicate. He was confused when all Danny did was laugh.

"You can say it Doc. I won't get offended." He laughed, causing the Doctor to feel slightly embarrassed, but also better. "I have been half dead for two years; no need to be timid. But as a precaution, I'll try and stay away from any snapping jaws."

"Smashing." George said enthusiastically, when suddenly his watch began to beep. "Sorry Mr Fenton, I mean Danny. I've got a scheduled appointment."

"Don't let me keep you." Danny said, getting to his feet. "I guess I'll see you around Doc."

"I certainly hope so." George said, shaking the teen's hand one more time. "Although, before you leave, do you think you could possibly do something, um, _ghostly _for me_? _It doesn't have to be anything too extravagant. It's just, ever since your big reveal two years ago, the entirety of the medical community has been simply fascinated by the mere possibility of a human having supernatural abilities." Danny couldn't help but smile at the man in front of him; he had gone from a medical professional to a fervent boy at Christmas.

_Now I know why Dad likes him so much_, Danny thought to himself. _He's practically his twin. _"I'll be seeing you Doc." With that, he turned around and headed for the door. At first, the Doctor had a look of disappointment on his face, but it quickly turned to one of wonder and amazement when Danny disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

George exhaled sharply. "Man that's cool."

The moment Danny teleported out of the Nurse's Office, things took a turn for the worst. Just as he was dematerialising, a pang of hunger ripped through Danny's stomach and at the last moment, thought he should get some food. This ultimately led to Danny rematerialising in the middle of the cafeteria, during the height of breakfast, and amongst roughly a hundred people; all of them, men, women and children, gave off a small shriek at his sudden appearance. Once heartbeats had normalised, looks of confusion and fear turned to ones of recognition, annoyance, and in some cases, anger. Danny didn't need to look around to know that those seated behind him were wearing similar expressions. Sighing deeply, coming to the understanding that he wasn't welcome amongst them, Danny went to leave the cafeteria when his stomach growled out in hunger once more. Casting an eye over to the tables of food, the teen sought out something he could take with minimal effort so he could leave as soon as possible. Finding what he was after, Danny used his telekinesis to levitate an apple over to him; as soon as the piece of fruit touched his fingertips, the teen disappeared on the spot once more. This time, Danny teleported back outside to the football field, where he situated himself on the goal posts overlooking the memorial and slowly ate his breakfast with his hood up, hiding his face from the world. He didn't know how much time had passed, the apple long since finished, when Danny suddenly sensed that he was no longer alone. Looking down, he saw Jazz standing below, gazing up, with a look that clearly said she wanted him to come down. Nodding, Danny swung both his legs over and floated down and landed in front of his sister, taking his hood down in the process.

"Tough morning little brother?" She asked, hugging her brother's broad form.

"That's one way of putting it." He responded.

"You looked like you were in your own little world up there?" She asked. "Care to share?"

"The more people I meet here, aside from Valerie and the Doc, the more I miss the Ghost Zone." Danny said.

"Yeah, I heard about what happened in the cafeteria." She said softly, pulling away and looking up into his blue eyes.

"Yeah. Probably shouldn't have teleported there right in the middle of breakfast." Danny said, his voice taking on a tired tone. "But, do you know what's funny?"

"What?" Jazz asked, confused.

"I miss being shot at." He laughed humourlessly. "I could deal with people hating me for what I am; I've had to deal with that for over two years. I would take being shot and yelled at over the glares and the spiteful whispers. And I know it's not going to get any better any time soon; it just feels like they would rather have one of those things in there with them than me."

"It's only the first day Danny." Jazz said consolingly. "Once they have vented their anger, they will come to see you as a valuable asset. Don't be so hard on yourself"

"Ever the psychiatrist Jazz." Danny chuckled.

"Hey, just because there's an apocalypse going on, doesn't mean people don't need reassurances. If anything, people need a good talking to now more than ever." Jazz said in a huff, but there was only amusement in her tone.

"I suppose." Danny said, his mood having lifted slightly. No matter how annoying his sister could be at times, she was always there for him. "Thanks Jazz."

"What are older sisters for?" She asked, smiling. "And being a psychologist in training, as well as caring and considerate sister, I've spoken to some people here that can help you."

"Who?" Danny asked doubtingly, looking around the field for anyone who might be approaching them; no one was there.

"They'll be here shortly." Jazz said with a knowing smile, before turning to walk away. "Just try not to cause too much trouble with them. They tend to get a bit carried away, as do you on occasion." Leaving her thoroughly confused brother at the goal posts, Jazz walked straight back up to the school and disappeared from sight. Danny was left standing there for a few minutes before he became bored and thought a fly was in order. Just as he morphed into his Ghost form, Danny faltered as his Ghost Sense went off. The moment the cold breath had left his mouth, Danny felt the air become energised with ectoplasm. Danny used his own ectoplasm to cover his hands in a green aura and turned just in time to catch a pink energy blast with both of them; without blinking, Danny surrounded the pink energy in more of his own power and crushed it out of existence. Yet, just as the energy disappeared, Danny couldn't help but think it was shaped rather like a fist. A familiar voice from above, however, stirred him from his musings.

"Hey Baby-pop. Did you miss us?"

**Once again, I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter, and continue to read on. I know this chapter was lacking in zombie action, but subsequent chapters will see their return. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


	5. Chapter 5

Dumbfounded, Danny watched as three figures descended from the sky and landed softly in front of him. The figure on the right was the only male of the trio. He had long, blonde, greasy hair which came down to his shoulders; a white shirt was visible underneath a dark, grey trench coat; fingerless biker gloves adorned both hands; dark trousers and heavy, grey boots. The female ghost on the left had vibrant green hair, with heavy purple eye shadow surrounding her red eyes. She wore a red, leather jacket over the top of a black tank-top, leaving her midriff exposed; completed with a purple scarf. On her lower body she wore a matching red, leather skirt, completed with green stockings and black, high heels. But it was the ghost in the middle who had spoken. Her clothing consisted of a black choker around her neck; a black one-shouldered tank-top exposing her midriff too; one long glove that covered most of her right arm and one black bracelet on her left arm. She also wore a pair of black, leather trousers with a silver belt and skull boots. It was her hair though which was a true, visual spectacle; a teal blue ponytail of roaring fire. The four continued to stare at each other for what seemed an age, until the blonde and green haired ghosts began to snigger, followed very closely by the blue-haired ghost. Danny smirked.

"Tut tut guys." Danny said, crossing his arms. "You're losing your touch."

"Lose the smugness Dipstick." The blue-haired ghost said, mirroring Danny's actions with her arms. "We'll get you next time." This time, all four broke out into genuine smiles and rushed forwards and engaged in a four-way hug.

"What are you guys doing here?" Danny asked, pulling away from his ghostly friends, still smiling.

"We got trapped on this side." Johnny said, linking arms with Kitty.

"Yeah," confirmed Kitty. "We came here to look for you when the Portal snapped closed behind us."

"For me?" Danny asked, puzzled. "Really?"

"That's right, _Lord _Phantom." Ember said, smirking. "We were going to hang out at the Wraith & Shade again, and wondered if you would grace us with your presence." Danny cringed at his new title.

"Please don't call me that. No one here knows that's my title now." He said. "Having Frostbite call me 'Great One' is bad enough. I don't need another one to add to the list. I get enough hassle as it is. Stupid Ancients." While his ghostly friends laughed at his expense, Danny couldn't help but smile as he remembered going to that very café with the three ghosts in front of him straight after his ceremony; a few hours before Clockwork collected him for his training. He had been pleasantly surprised at how well the four had got on with each other when they weren't fighting each other. They had formed quite a strong friendship; almost as strong as the friendship Danny shared with Tucker and Sam.

"But it was very sweet of you guys to think of me." Danny said mockingly, clasping his hands over where his heart would be in human form. "I'm touched." Ember playfully punched his arm.

"Shut it Ghost-Boy." She said, but was still smiling.

"Hey, I'm seventeen. No, wait." Danny said, doing quick Maths in his head. When he finished adding on the thirteen months, Danny realised he had missed two birthdays. "Crap, I'm eighteen! So hardly a boy anymore."

"You've definitely grown Danny." Johnny said, just now realising that Danny was no longer the scrawny teen they remembered him as. "I'll give you that."

"Yes he has." Ember said, stepping back to give Danny a proper look. Johnny was put out when he noticed that Kitty was doing the same thing.

"Hey!" He said, waving his arms in front of the girls. "I've been working out too."

"I'm sure you have Johnny." Danny said, Johnny reminding him of Tucker whenever he was trying to impress a Cheerleader. He was also blushing at the attention he was getting from Ember and Kitty and was hoping to steer the conversation away from him. "How did you even manage to survive on this side with all the Ghost Hunters? And Johnny, where's your bike? Don't tell me you crashed it again?"

"Both are sort of connected." Johnny said.

"Yeah," confirmed Ember. "It was difficult to begin with, especially with your Goth friend, sister and mother trying to shoot us whenever we showed our faces." Danny's heart panged slightly at the mention of Sam, but didn't interrupt.

"But a certain little Phantom put in a good word for us." Kitty said slyly.

"Dani?!" Danny exclaimed. "She's here?!"

"You bet your Halfa butt she's here." Ember said. "A good thing too. Otherwise, all three of us would probably be puddles of ectoplasmic gloop on the floor by now."

"Or ripped apart molecule by molecule as your dear old pops would say." Johnny chimed in.

"Yeah." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry about that. He tends to get a bit overexcited."

"Not to worry." Johnny said. "Thanks to Dani, we made peace with the Fentons. Your Dad and I even have a deal. He helps me fix and maintain my bike, and I give him a ride every now again and stay away from your sister."

"Speaking of which," Danny began again. "Care to mention where your bike is?"

"I let Dani borrow it on her recent R&R mission." Johnny said. "She should be back soon. Either tonight or tomorrow morning." Danny couldn't help but smile at the prospect of seeing his cousin again. He hadn't seen her since his ceremony either; she had congratulated him before flying off. His thoughts then turned to Jazz, who had made him feel considerably better by getting Ember, Kitty and Johnny to talk to him.

_She would have made a great psychiatrist if the world hadn't have gone to hell, _Danny thought fondly. _But now it's time to get back at them for the taunt of my new title._

"So," Danny began, clapping his hands together. "Are you going to introduce your friend, or do I have to shoot you?"

All three of their faces were priceless; if their jaws could detach, chances are they would be on the floor.

"H…how?" Kitty stammered, still shocked.

Danny laughed. "Two months training with Clockwork have their perks Kitty. He got Frostbite to teach me how to hone in my Ghost Sense. Whenever it goes off, I can tell how many ghosts there are in the vicinity." Danny explained. "When it went off when you guys arrived, I could tell there were four of you, despite only three of you being visible. I didn't mention it before because I was happy to see you guys." This caused Ember to punch his arm once again.

"Now who's being the sweet one?" She asked sarcastically, but her tone was light-hearted.

"But dude," whined Johnny. "We wanted her to be a surprise. Ah well. Come on then Krystal. Time to say hello." When a fourth teen ghost appeared in front of Danny, he couldn't help but be amazed at how innocent she looked. Sure, Ember and Kitty were practically good now, albeit slightly rebellious, but the girl in front of Danny practically radiated naivety. She had long, snowy-white hair tied up in a ponytail similar to Embers, but not like fire. Her skin was remarkably pale for a ghost, like she had been out in the cold for days on end; royal purple eye-shadow was the only colour on her face, as well as the same shade of blue eyes that Danny has in human form. Unlike Ember and Kitty who had their stomachs on show, Krystal wore a slightly darker blue outfit, akin to what an Olympic figure-skater would wear, completed with a white belt which sat on her hips and knee-high, navy leather boots. She also wore wrist-to-elbow, cloth bracelets which were the same shade of blue as her boots. Her outfit was completed with a navy-blue cloak which reached down to her feet, fastened together with glowing, green gem. To Danny, she looked beyond terrified.

"Hey." Danny said softly, holding out his hand. "I'm Danny."

"Krystal." She said quietly, shaking the teen's hand, quickly releasing it. Danny noticed that her hands were freezing, even for a ghost.

"Don't worry girl." Johnny said. "He won't bite. Just don't try and take over his town and you'll be best buds." Whilst Kitty wacked her boyfriend with her handbag, Danny took a moment to inspect this new ghost. She was wrapping herself up in her cloak and staring at the ground, taking only the occasional glance at the other teen ghosts around her. Whenever she met Danny's eyes, who were still inspecting her, she would do an almost inaudible squeak before looking back down again.

"Are you ok?" Danny asked, taking a tentative step forwards; he didn't want to scare the girl even more than she already was. She gave a stiff nod.

"Don't worry Danny." Kitty said, now finished beating up Johnny and was now giving Krystal a one armed hug. "She's not the most talkative, but she's really nice when she opens up."

"You're new to this, aren't you?" Danny asked, much to the amazement of his three ghostly friends. Krystal's eyes widened, now fixed on Danny. "You haven't been a ghost for very long, have you? Maybe even a day or two before the portals stopped working?" Once again, Ember, Kitty and Johnny's jaws dropped.

"How did you know that?" Johnny asked. "It took us weeks to get that out of her."

Danny shrugged. "Halfa's intuition."

Ember scoffed. "You just made that up."

"True," Danny admitted. "But I remember looking just like that when I first became a ghost. It gets easier." With that, Krystal gave Danny a genuine smile.

"Thank you." She said, finally releasing her cloak, allowing it billow slightly in the gentle breeze. Her eyes then widened when Danny stretched out his hand and formed an ice crystal; she stretched out her hand and copied Danny. Danny winked to his friends.

"Having an ice core also allows me to tell whenever I meet someone else with an ice core." He said.

"Yeah," Ember said. "We knew that when we first met. She screamed and froze an apartment block." Whilst Krystal looked down guiltily, Danny laughed.

"Don't worry." He said, causing her eyes to meet his once more. "When I first developed my ice powers, I ended up freezing the entire sewer system under Amity." This apparently made Krystal better because she smiled once more and took a few steps forwards so that she was closer to the group.

"So what were you about to do before we showed up?" Kitty asked, smiling also as Danny had actually got Krystal to be more open; a feat which had taken them weeks to achieve.

"I was going to go for a fly." Danny answered, looking up towards the green sky. "I needed to clear my head and I thought a leisurely fly to nowhere in particular would be in order, even if Amity is practically a wasteland now."

"Something got you down?" Ember asked.

"Three things, actually Ember." Danny responded wistfully.

"Let me guess," Johnny started. "That twisted Paul kid, people here not liking you because you're massively late, and…" Johnny trailed off, struggling to think of a third reason.

"The army." Danny said darkly. "Valerie told me about what they get up to on their visits." This time to Danny's amazement, all four teen ghosts in front of him started laughing; Krystal seemed to be more an embarrassed laugh, but she was giggling nonetheless.

"Care to share?" Danny asked, confused.

"It's nothing Baby-pop." Ember said, clasping her side. "It's just, the last time they were here, something happened to them which was hilarious."

"Yeah," Kitty said, wiping a tear away. "Remember when we said Krystal screamed and froze a building?" Danny's jaw dropped as he turned to face the ghost in question.

"You didn't?"

"I didn't mean to." She said, a bit louder this time. "They snuck up behind me and scared me."

_Her being scared froze an entire building? _Danny thought to himself, a slight look of awe on his face at the ghost in front of him. _Maybe Clockwork had a point when he said all powerful ghosts wear cloaks and capes. I'll have to keep an eye on Krystal._

"It was brilliant." Johnny said, bringing Danny back to the conversation. "They got bored trying to rile us up, so they thought they would be clever and try to scare Krystal. They got more than they bargained for though. On top of turning every one of those things in the immediate area into freaksicles, she sealed about forty soldiers inside that building." Danny struggled to stifle his laughter, which in turn caused Krystal to blush.

"How did they get out?" He asked.

"After much begging and pleading, I melted the ice." Ember said offhandedly. "But I made sure they were on the verge of pissing themselves before I did it. Serves them right."

"You're so bad." Danny said, but not in a condescending tone; if anything, he was impressed and glad.

"You got that right Baby-pop." She said, smirking. "And don't you forget it."

After a few moments of comfortable silence, the only sound heard being the low growls of infected people bumping into each other on the other side of the Ghost Shield, coupled with the noise coming from the school, Krystal finally spoke up.

"So, er," she began nervously, gaining everyone's attention. "Can we all go for a fly?"

"Sure," Danny said, before a thought struck him. "Speaking of which, how do you guys even get out of here? I doubt they turn off the shield every time you want to pass through."

"No flies on this one." Ember said sarcastically, before pointing to her choker, which Danny only realised now as having a green pendant attached to it. Looking to the other three, Danny saw that they all had similar necklaces on. "Not really my colour, but it does the job."

"Your parents made them." Kitty explained when she saw Danny's clueless expression. "They did explain how they work but I think we spaced out. Essentially, it allows us to pass through the shield and only feel a slight tingle." Danny was impressed.

"Impressive." He said. "Maybe I should get one. It's a pain having to keep changing just to pass through the stupid thing. That will definitely make my life a little easier."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to make life even more difficult for you." Johnny joked.

"Shut it Johnny." Danny laughed as he morphed back into Fenton and began to float. "Let's fly already."

By the time they got back from flying, it was in the late hours of the afternoon and the sun was beginning its descent, casting an orange glow over the area. Danny had never felt better. The moment Dash and Valerie had laid it all on him about the hardships he should expect whilst staying at the school, Danny was apprehensive at the very least and was convinced he would end up being a hermit; either through rejection and misery, or through sheer annoyance and frustration. He was leaning more towards the latter though. But after the spending the afternoon with Ember, Kitty, Johnny and Krystal, Danny was now thinking the apocalypse wasn't going to be as bad as he originally anticipated. They had flown over to the building Krystal had frozen that one time; the entire area was completely devoid of any life. Despite Ember melting enough so that those trapped inside could escape, Danny couldn't help but marvel at how much power Krystal had used without even meaning to. She had even agreed to let Danny teach her, as she didn't have the luxury of Frostbite helping her like how he helped Danny when Undergrowth was attacking the city. However, as Danny had learned multiple times over his two years of being Amity Park's protector, the Universe just loves to prove him wrong.

"What do you mean they're going to be late?" Danny asked angrily. He was having dinner with his family in the Chemistry classroom, when the call came over the radio Jazz was holding; apparently, all R&R members were required to wear one as well as the guards. She had just been told that they had been contacted by Sam and Tucker's team, who were due back soon. However, according to the report, they had split up, with one group not being expected back at least for another day.

"It's not her fault Danny." Maddie said calmly; she knew that he was annoyed at the prospect of not seeing Sam soon. "The army were ahead of schedule and Sam and Tucker thought it best that one of them should escort them here. One time when they got here of their own accord, they had about fifty of those things following them. It was almost enough to put a strain on the Shield." Danny did nothing but huff, finding no flaw in the logic his mother was applying. He was just sick of having to wait to see his two best friends, especially Sam. It was almost as if the Universe didn't want them meeting.

"Look at this way Danny." Jazz began. "You'll still see Tuck and Dani, if she chose to go with him, tonight." _It will give us more time to think of a way to tell him, _she thought sadly.

"Yeah." Danny said, slightly more cheerfully. "I suppose that's true. How come you never mentioned Dani was here too anyway?"

"She wanted it to be a surprise." Jazz said, remembering how mischievous the little Halfa had got when planning it out. "Like us, she never doubted for a second that you wouldn't be back, and so she wanted to surprise you when you arrived. It's typical that Kitty let it slip; she never was one for secrets."

"Except when she overshadowed Paulina to get back at Johnny?" Danny asked, smirking.

"Except that one time." Jazz said, also smirking.

"Do we want to know?" Maddie asked, eying the two siblings suspiciously. They looked at each other before quickly saying no. They wouldn't want to get the ghosts on the bad side of their parents, not after they had actually begun to get along. Whilst Maddie tried to ascertain whether or not she should let the subject drop, Jack had sneakily pressed the fudge button on his staff and quickly eaten the small cube from his metal leg. Only Danny saw him and he had to cough to cover up his laughter, earning a wink from Jack. Maddie was none the wiser as the panel sealed itself back up again. The family lapsed into a comfortable silence as they finished their meal, when all of a sudden, Danny's Ghost Sense went off. A moment later, Kitty's head appeared through the ceiling, startling all but Danny who only smirked at the sight.

"Hey Kitty." Danny said, looking up to the other teen ghost. "Everything all right?"

"Hey Danny." She said, then turning to his family, who were stowing away their weapons. "Hey Fentons. Mind if we take Danny for a bit?"

"Sure Kitty." Jazz said warmly. "Just make sure he isn't out too long. He needs sleep at some point."

"Yes ma'am." Kitty said, her hand coming through the ceiling to perform a mock salute. Just as Danny began to float towards the ceiling, Maddie called him back down.

"Hang on a second sweetie," she began, rooting around the desk draw they were currently seated at. "Take this with you." Having found what she was looking forward, she threw something to Danny who caught it. Opening his hand, he saw a small, green disc which strongly resembled the stone which acted as a clasp on his cloak, as well as something else.

"Is this…?" Danny began; Maddie nodded.

"Yes dear, it is." She said. "We know that having to change between forms to go from one side of the shield to the other can be bothersome, so your father and I made this one especially for you. The other four ghosts just have a generic one, well, Ember's was mostly a generic one. She didn't want it as a necklace, so we just fitted it to her choker. As we know you don't really like wearing jewellery, we fashioned it so acts as a clasp for your cloak too." Swapping it over, and placing the now useless clasp on the table, Danny grinned and floated over to hug both his parents.

"You're the best." He said, still smiling.

"We know." Maddie said. "Now get going. We'll see you later." Performing a mock salute as well, Danny turned and flew through the ceiling after Kitty.

"Man that's cool." Jack said, watching his son fly through a solid roof.

As soon as Danny made it outside with Kitty and turned his intangibility off, he was instantly tackled by a black and white blur. The force and speed of the impact had taken Danny completely by surprise, that he didn't have enough time to right himself before crashing into the grassy area outside the cafeteria where students would eat during the summer months, leaving a small crater where he landed. Shaking his head, Danny looked down to see his 'cousin' clutching onto him with all her might.

"Hey Danielle." He said, smiling widely, patting her back. "How you been?"

Dani pulled away and punched the older Halfa's arm. "I'm fine you moron. Where the hell have you been for the past year?" It was then that Danny realised she was crying slightly.

"Hey," Danny began, bringing her in for another hug, which she gladly accepted. "I'm sorry, ok? It's only been two months for me. Blame Clockwork; it's his fault I'm eleven months late."

Dani sniffed. "Stupid Stopwatch." Danny grinned at her nickname for the Master of Time.

_Though I'm not sure he would appreciate it very much_, Danny added as an afterthought.

"Did you bring me anything at least?" Dani asked, pulling away once more.

Danny laughed. "Sorry Dani, but Clockwork's Tower doesn't have a gift shop."

"Typical." Dani huffed. Then, both their Ghosts Sense's went off as they were joined by the other four teen ghosts.

"Did it work?" Ember asked, who had an evil grin on her face.

"Course it did." Dani said, flying up to high-five the ghost rocker.

"Wait," Danny said. "You planned to tackle me into the ground, in which I'm likely to get a massive bruise now?"

"That's right Dipstick." Ember smirked. "Dani here flew here ahead of her little group and bumped into us."

"She almost didn't believe us when we told her you were back." Kitty said.

"But when she finally did, we told her about how Ember shot at you, and how it didn't work." Johnny said.

"So she and I came up with a better idea." Dani said, smiling at her plan. "Instead of using energy to hit you, we thought it better if I just hit you with me." Danny couldn't help but smirk.

"When did you get so devious?" He asked his smaller self.

"Don't look at me." Dani said, holding her hands in the air. "It's your genetics. So really, you're to blame."

"Yeah, all right then." Danny said, having no come back for that. "How come you flew ahead anyway? Was Tuck bothering you that much?"

"Oh my God," Dani said, suddenly becoming infuriated. "He's still going on and on and on about how he lost Sasha last week, and how he wants a funeral for her and…" Dani trailed off as she it dawned on her what Danny asked.

"Tucker!" She exclaimed, looking at her original. "He is so going to flip when he finds out you're back."

"I hope in a good way." Danny thought as he rubbed the back of his neck. _I hope he isn't like the other humans here._

"Definitely in a good way." Dani confirmed, as if sensing his inner turmoil. "He's already got a betting pool on when you're getting back. And if I remember correctly, you're about to make him quite rich." Danny couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't suppose money is of any consequence now, so how is he being paid?" Danny asked.

"Chocolate bars." Dani said simply. "They're kind of a treat now as nowhere makes them anymore. I think he's set to win about fifty."

"Good to know I still have my uses around here." Danny said still smiling, when a devious thought of his own came into being.

"I know that look." Dani said. "What are you planning Danny?" Danny turned to his cousin with a mischievous grin.

"How would like to help me freak out Tuck?" He asked; Dani's eyes widened.

"I thought you'd never ask." Danny then turned to Krystal, who just looked at him curiously.

"I'm going to need your help too."

Just as Tucker's R&R team turned onto the street where Danny had landed the night before, the red beret wearing teen at the helm, Dani suddenly turned visible. Tucker let out a small, girlish squeak when Dani suddenly appeared floating upside down in front him.

"Gees Tuck," Dani said, trying her hardest not to laugh. "You're meant to be quiet." As if to prove her point, a lone, decrepit person stumbled out from behind an abandoned car in front of them. Tucker and Dani came to a stop, as did the rest of the group who had caught up, and sighed at the pitiful sight before them. It was, or used to be, a woman with long blonde hair which had fallen out in chunks; her clothes, which might have been considered fashionable over a year ago, were now stained with yellows and reds which were presumably blood; her skin, what was left of it, were of the same colours. However, the groups' eyes were drawn to how she was moving towards them. The 'woman' was staggering towards them with only one foot; the other ended in a jagged stump which was being dragged across the road, leaving a red trail in her wake. A year ago, many people would have become squeamish at this sight, but after eleven months, Tucker's group, as well as everyone else that lived in the school, had effectively become hardened to the sight of gore. Now, all they felt was pity, annoyance, or a combination of the two. Tucker was one such person who was filled with both; sighing, he reached into his belt and brought out an ecto-pistol, took aim and shot the woman straight between the eyes. As she dropped to the floor and began to twitch uncontrollably, Tucker holstered his gun and looked back to Dani.

"Where do you fly off to then?" He asked curiously.

"I went off to sort out funeral arrangements for Sasha." She said sarcastically as they began to move towards the school again.

"Very funny _Danielle_." Tucker said, using her full name which he knew she didn't like. Dani's eyes narrowed at the use of her full name.

"Maybe I should arrange funeral services for Tanya and Mimi too while I'm at it?" She asked dangerously. Tucker shuddered violently.

"All right, all right." He said quickly. "I'm sorry. But seriously, why fly off but fly back again?"

"Because there's something seriously weird happening at the school that I think you should see."

"Why?" Tucker asked. "What's happening. Have any Reekers got in?"

"No, it's nothing like that." Dani said dismissively. "It's not really something I can explain. You have to see it. Like right now." By this point, the rest of Tucker's team had caught up and heard the conversation.

"Best go with her dude." One of his team said after giving Dani a distrustful look. "Otherwise she may freeze your ass."

"Shut it Gerry." Dani said, glaring at said person. "I did that to you because you stole my chocolate bar and wouldn't give it back." Before Gerry could retort back, another member of Tucker's team came forwards and placed their hand on his shoulder.

"Like she said Gerry." She said. "Shut it. Go ahead Tuck. We've got it from here. The school's just up ahead. We'll see you at the debrief." Nodding his thanks, Tucker grasped Dani's arm and allowed her to fly him over to the school. As they landed out front, Tucker noticed that what looked like fog was creeping around the side of the school. Seeing Dani nod to him, Tucker edged forwards warily and entered the fog. As soon as he disappeared from view, Dani chuckled and disappeared to find Danny.

Tucker would never admit to how scared he was feeling right now, but if anyone had been able to see him through the thick, freezing fog, they would see how hard his hands were shaking from fear as well as the cold. Even though he knew Dani would never put him in danger, he subconsciously took his ecto-pistol and aimed it straight ahead, anticipating an attack.

"Very funny Dani." Tucker called out, more bravely than he was actually feeling. "Jokes over now. You can come out now." When he was met with only silence, Tucker really began to get nervous. With his heart pounding in his chest, Tucker began waving his hand in front of him, hoping to come into contact with something. Realising he wasn't getting anywhere, and that Dani was probably just fooling around, he turned to leave when the temperature dropped drastically. Shivering uncontrollably, Tucker walked back the way he came, much quicker than when he entered. However, just when he thought he was on the verge of leaving, Tucker saw something black ahead of him. Pausing to try and think of what black things there were on the football field, Tucker's eyes widened when it began to move towards him. Instinctively he shot an ecto-blast at the advancing black figure, only for the green bolt to pass straight through it. His jaw dropped at how ineffective his weapon was. Tucker then began to notice that the closer the thing got to him, the lighter the fog became; when it was no more than ten feet away, the small area he was standing in was practically free from fog. Tucker saw that it was a person wearing a long, black-hooded cloak, and he couldn't help but notice that it was stood in a battle stance. Nervously, Tucker raised his gun again when the figure in front of him did the last thing he expected; it laughed.

"Is that any way to treat an old friend Tuck?" It asked with an amused tone. Tucker dropped the gun as fast as his jaw dropped.

"I know that voice." Tucker said quietly to himself.

"I should hope so." The figure said once again, alarming Tucker at the fact that it heard him. "I would have thought it would take longer than a year to forget my voice." With that, Danny waved one hand in the air and all the fog dissipated, bringing the field and school back into view, and lowered his hood so that Tucker could see his face. Like Jazz, Tucker took a moment before he recognised who was stood in front of him, his jaw dropping for a second time that evening.

"Danny?" He asked, scarcely believing what he was seeing. "Is that you man?"

"Hey Tuck. How you been?"

**Once again, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. I know a few people have been wondering when I was going to bring Sam and Tucker back into it, and Sam will appear imminently. Until next time. **

**Lord Pugsy.**


	6. Chapter 6

Half an hour later, Danny and Tucker were sat on the roof of the school with their legs hanging over the edge. The five ghosts had allowed the two friends some alone time to catch up on things. It took considerably quicker to catch Danny up as he had already heard several versions of what had happened in his absence. Once Danny had finished retelling his experiences from the Ghost Zone up to when he arrived at the school, Tucker took a moment to let all the information sink in.

"Wow." Tucker finally said, turning his gaze to the teen next to him. "I can't believe you're actually a _Lord_. That's awesome."

"Easy Tuck." Danny said, but amused nonetheless. "No one here knows except Ember, Johnny, Kitty and Krystal. And probably Dani now to be honest."

"What?" Tucker asked disbelievingly. "You mean you haven't even told your folks or Jazz?"

"No." Danny sighed. "I don't think they would let me live it down. Especially Dad. You should have seen him when I told him about how I've got two obelisks in my name."

Tucker laughed. "I bet he got all excited and began jumping around? Well, jumping around to the best of his ability."

"And then some." Danny said. "He was even waving his staff around."

"Yeah," confirmed Tucker. "That definitely sounds like Mr F. But credit where credit's due, he didn't let that Reeker bite get him down. He's still the same energetic and childish guy, even if he has got a fake leg."

Danny paused. "That's something else I've been meaning to ask. I've heard several names for those things out there. Does no one have an actual title for them?"

Tucker sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, similar to what Danny does. "You're bound to hear at least half a dozen names for those things around here. A lot of the R&R teams call them 'Reekers'. It's not the most humane name for them I admit, but when you're hiding in places where their corpses are everywhere for hours on end, no other name is appropriate. I know a lot of the adults call them 'Rotters', for similar reasons. 'Infected' is a general one; I think Paul and his cult call them 'Sinners' or something. As a rule though, no one calls them the Z-word."

_Z-word? _Danny thought curiously. "What's the Z-word?" Tucker groaned.

"Zombie." He said in a low voice. Now Danny's interest was definitely piqued.

"Why is the word 'Zombie' such a taboo?"

"Because," Tucker began, trying to think of a way to phrase it. "They're not exactly zombies. Comic books and films all depict Zombies as the reanimated dead, who simple-mindedly amble around slowly, groaning and looking to feast on human brains for sustenance."

"And that's not what these, _Infected_, are?" Danny queried, testing out the word.

"Not even close." Tucker confirmed. "We wish they were like that. That would make it a lot easier for us. These things are far more dangerous. They can run, their senses are barely impaired, and they're relentless. Once they know someone is there, they will not stop. Actually, the only thing they have got in common with Zombies is the fact that the infection does cause the skin to decay rapidly, giving them an all-round 'dead' look."

"Interesting." Danny said, thinking back to the rotten Infected he encountered in Woodbury. "No concept of pain either?"

"Not as far as we're aware." Tucker said.

"So if they're not Zombies, that means they don't care about eating our flesh." Danny said. "So why are they after people?"

"That's a good question." Tucker said, taking off his signature red cap to play around with. "A good question with no definite answer. The Doc seems to think that the infection is only interested in spreading to new hosts; they couldn't care less about eating us. They just want a quick nibble to pass it along. Think of it as a very aggressive and determined STD." Danny was about to comment further when he thought he could hear someone saying Tucker's name.

"Can you hear that?" Danny asked, looking out over the grassy area.

"Hear what?" Tucker asked, confused.

"Sounds like someone's saying your name." Tucker paused, before fumbling around his belt.

"Must be my radio." Tucker said, looking towards the ground. It was too dark for him to make it out. "I must have dropped it when you and Dani scared the crap out of me." Danny chuckled before scanning the area. With his enhanced vision, it didn't take him long to find it; using his telekinesis, he brought it up to where they were sitting, Tucker's jaw dropping.

"I forgot to mention. Thanks to Clockwork, I've mastered telekinesis, among other powers." Danny said, smirking at his friend's face. Numbly, Tucker picked up his radio.

"Go for Tuck."

"_Dude. It's Gerry. Where the hell are you?_" It took Tucker a moment before he realised what Gerry was getting at.

"Crap." Tucker said. "The debrief. Sorry, I got distracted. I'll be right there. See you in a few." Clipping his radio to his belt, making sure it was secure; he gave Danny an apologetic look.

"Sorry Danny, I've got to go."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Danny said earnestly. "Honestly, it's fine. It's my fault you're late anyway. I'll catch up with you after." Just as they stood up to part ways, Tucker's radio went off again.

"_And find Phantom and bring him with you_." Gerry said. The underlying tone of hate didn't go unnoticed by the two teens, but both decided to ignore it. Nodding, Danny took Tucker's arm.

"Here, allow me." With that, both teens disappeared in a puff of green smoke.

Reappearing in front of the cafeteria, Tucker staggered a bit as Danny released his arm.

"You all right?" Danny asked worriedly. "It takes some getting used to."

"That was awesome!" Tucker exclaimed. "We've got to do that again."

"When you've finished playing," a voice said from behind them. "The debrief has already started." Turning, Danny and Tucker came face to face with a severely annoyed looking Gerry. Danny hadn't decided whether it was because they were late, or because he was there; he suspected the latter. Turning on his heels, he walked back into the cafeteria with Danny and Tucker close behind him. Upon entering, Danny saw five people sat at one of the tables; three guys and two girls, all looking exhausted and looking warily at Danny. Sighing, he took a seat in mid-air next to Tucker as there was no more room at the table. Scoffing quietly, Gerry looked to the group once more.

"Now that Tuck and, _Phantom_, have graced us with their presence," Gerry began disdainfully. "It's time we got onto our next mission. Due to the lack of medicine supplies left in Amity, the Fentons and the Doc have agreed that we need to expand our searches for them." One of the girls put their hand up.

"I take it that means searching the nearest towns?" She asked.

"Brilliant deduction Lisa." Gerry said scornfully, only for the other girl to smack him on the back of the head.

"Shut it Gerry." She said, glaring at the boy. "Or I'll shut it for you."

Danny smiled. _I like her, _he thought.

"Anyway," Gerry said, trying to save his pride, actively avoiding Danny's eye. "The nearest town to here is Woodbury; it's about a forty minute walk from here. They have two pharmacies and a pharmaceutical warehouse, though I haven't got much hope for the actual stores."

"How come?" Danny asked. Gerry ignored him.

Tucker sighed. "How come?"

"Because those were probably the first places people looted when the world went to hell." Gerry said. "Not many people know about the warehouses."

"So how do you know?" Asked one of the guys.

"Because that's where the Doc and Chef made a stop before they got here Max." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They took a few supplies before arriving. As far as they were aware, the place had been untouched before they got there."

"Fair enough." Max said who then glanced over to where Danny was floating. "Why do we need the ghost?" Danny used his telekinesis to keep Tucker in his seat and gave an almost imperceptible head shake as he knew Tucker was about to stand up for him. Luckily, no one noticed the almost altercation, but Tucker was still fuming.

Gerry huffed indignantly. "Because the Doc and the Fentons seem to think having him along will help us with the heavy lifting, in case we need it."

"Well that makes sense," Tucker said through gritted teeth. "As _Danny_ can lift a great deal of weight." All eyes turned to Danny.

"How much can you lift?" Asked the girl who stood up for Lisa.

Danny shrugged. "It depends."

"On what?" Max asked askance.

"On whether I use my telekinesis or my actual, physical strength." Danny said simply. "I can lift about eleven metric tonnes with my telekinesis, but only eight without it. As we're looking at transporting it from Woodbury to here, I don't want to go over six as I'll have to either fly or teleport them back." All six members of the group couldn't stop their jaws dropping from Danny's nonchalance revelation; even Gerry forgot to look angry at the Halfa.

Tucker whistled before looking back at Max. "Does that answer your question about why we need him?" Max was still too surprised to do anything except nod.

"Good." Tucker said. "So what time are we leaving?"

Gerry finally found his voice. "We meet outside the front gates at eleven. I'll see you all then." With that, he left the cafeteria, followed very closely by Max and the remaining guy who hadn't made himself known. All three of them gave Danny a cautious look as they left; Danny just smiled at waved before turning to Tucker.

"I just love cheery welcomes." He said. "They make me feel all fuzzy on the inside." The other three laughed.

"Well that's Gerry for you." Lisa said, before extending her hand. "I'm Lisa, by the way." Danny floated over and sat opposite her.

"Danny." He said, shaking her hand.

"And I'm Jessie." Said the other girl. "The other guy was Carl. He basically has the same sunny disposition as Gerry and Max."

"Can you really lift eleven tonnes?" Asked Lisa, curiously.

Danny smiled. "Only on a good day."

"You do realise that by saying that, you've just caused those three guys to become even more suspicious and scared of you?" Tucker asked seriously.

Danny shrugged. "They'll have to deal with it. Though it's probably a good thing I didn't tell them what else I can do."

Tucker regarded Danny. "Dude, that's almost cold. You've been spending too much time with Ember haven't you?"

"Just playing the part Tucker." Danny stated. "They want a ghost; I'll give them a ghost."

At half ten the next morning, Danny was eating breakfast with Jazz in her room going over reports about Woodbury when there was a knock at the door. Bemused as to who it would be, Jazz answered the door to find Joan and presumably her husband Greg standing there.

"Hey Joan." Danny said, walking up to them. "It's good to see you up and about."

"I have you to thank for that." She said, smiling. "This is my husband Greg."

"Sir." Danny extended his hand which was shook firmly by Greg.

"I just wanted to say thank you Danny." Greg said. "If it wasn't for you, I doubt my family would be here with me."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck through being praised. "You're wife and daughter are something else."

"Thanks for saying so." Greg said. Joan was beaming. "But there is something we'd like to ask of you. I know we have no right after all you've done for us-." Danny cut him off.

"Greg," he said simply. "Just ask. Really. What's on your mind?" Joan shuffled slightly.

"Because of our, _rushed, _exit from the roof, we left quite a few things behind." She said. Danny caught the tone.

"I take it they were items of sentimental importance?" Danny asked. When there was no reply, Danny took that as a yes. "And you're trying to find a way of asking me to get them for you?" Even Jazz was surprised by Danny's bluntness, Joan and Greg were in a stupor. Danny couldn't help but laugh.

"It's ok." He said kindly. "I don't mind quickly flying over to the shopping centre and picking up some things. What am I looking for?"

"There's a, erm, small satchel where we set our, erm, tent up." Joan said nervously. "It's silly really. Just a couple of photo albums and family stuff."

"Only if it's not too much trouble." Greg said hurriedly.

Danny chuckled. "No trouble at all. I'll be sure to drop them off when we get back. We're leaving soon anyway." The couple said their thanks and left the siblings standing in the door way, Jazz having an amused expression on her face.

"You'll never change, will you?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked, confused

"It doesn't matter who's in trouble, or what they want, you'll always help them." Jazz said, admiration in her voice.

"What's your point?" Danny asked, crossing his arms.

"That you're still my little hero." She said mockingly, but lovingly at the same time.

"Enough of the little." Danny said. "I'm half a foot taller than you now."

"But you'll always be my little brother." She said, bringing Danny into a hug. Even though she was embarrassing him, Danny didn't pull away. He always enjoyed their private sibling moments. "Now get going. Gerry will throw a fit if you're late."

"Yes Ma'am." Danny said, before teleporting from the room and reappearing in front of the school where the R&R team were ready and waiting for him.

"Nice to see ghosts are punctual." Gerry said sneeringly, putting a rucksack over his shoulder.

"It's funny that." Danny said, walking over to where Tucker was standing. "It's almost like we have enough intelligence to read a watch." Tucker snorted and Gerry just turned and began leading the group down the streets and out of Amity. Gerry and Carl took the lead, Lisa, Jessie and Max took the middle and Tucker and Danny took the back. When they reached the main highway which connected the two towns, Danny was confused that they met no obstacles. He put this to Tucker.

Tucker shrugged. "It's not really surprising. They're not usually active during the day, especially this time of day. As far as we've learned about them, which isn't a great deal to be honest, they like smaller areas like streets. We've hardly seen any in an area this open."

"Fair enough." Danny said. "By the way, what really is the reason I'm here?"

"Pretty much what we said last night." Tucker said. "That, and I'm pretty sure you would want to contribute as much as possible. You never were one for the side-lines."

"So you won't actually need me until it's time to leave?"

"I guess." Tucker said, looking at his friend. "Why?"

"It appears I've got an errand to run whilst we're in Woodbury." Danny said. "I just wanted to make sure I won't be missed." Tucker thought about it.

"I reckon if you stick with us until we actually get into the warehouse, just in case we need some ghostly muscle, you'll be able to go off and do what you need to do without reproach. Sound fair?"

"More than fair." Danny said smiling, clapping his friend on the back. "Thanks Tuck. You're the best."

"No problem dude." He said, reciprocating the smile. "And I know."

Tucker's smile, however, didn't last long. At the bottom of the exit ramp off the highway and into Woodbury, hundreds of Infected were shambling around, groaning and bumping into each other. As Danny floated back down after getting a better look, to where the group was hiding behind an overturned heavy-goods truck, everyone could see the look of horror on his face.

"Bad?" Lisa asked; Danny nodded.

"How bad?" Tucker asked. Danny gulped.

"Ghost King army-bad." He said. Tucker's jaw dropped.

"I take it that's bad?" Jessie asked. Danny was confused until he realised she wasn't a resident of Amity Park, therefore she wouldn't know about Pariah's army of skeleton soldiers.

"Worse than we can imagine." Tucker said in a small voice. Silence befell the group until Gerry decided to add some testosterone to the stifling silence.

"What are you? A bunch of wimps?" He asked harshly, before turning on Danny. "And you? The ghost who saved the world? Scared of a few Reekers are you?" Danny just about contained his anger to prevent his eyes from flashing green, or even red. In a split second, he transformed into Phantom, flew to where Gerry was standing, grabbed him and then shot upwards so that he could see exactly what he and Tucker were talking about. Upon seeing it, Gerry's face turned as white as Danny's hair as he took in the scene below him.

"Anything else you would like to ask?" Danny whispered viciously. Gerry shook his head quickly. "Good." With that, he floated back down and released Gerry, and then turned to face everyone else.

"How far is the warehouse from here?" Danny asked, his tone becoming more authoritative.

"It doesn't matter." Jessie said dejectedly, slumping to the ground. "There's no way we'll be able to get there."

"Seriously?" Danny asked exasperatedly. "What colour is the sky in your world? What was the point of bringing me along, if you're not going to use what I can do?" Danny was pleased to see that she had the good grace to look sheepish at his outburst. He turned to Tucker who was looking contemplative.

"We need to turn left at the bottom of the ramp." He said. "From there, it's a fifteen minute walk if we're not interrupted. So if you could lead them off to the right, it could give us a window of opportunity to move."

"All right." Danny said, feeling as if they were finally getting somewhere. "Anything else?" Tucker couldn't help but smile at how swiftly Danny had taken up the role of the leader. It brought back memories of when he flew off to fight Pariah, and how he united everyone during the Disasteroid incident.

"We'll have to move quickly." Lisa said. "Even though we need to hurry, we'll still have to weave in and out of streets and buildings. If only one of them were to see us, it would bring the whole horde right on top of our asses." The other three guys were broken from their terrified musings, and attempted to salvage any form of authority.

"From what we know, there are sixteen houses between here and the warehouse, but only five of them aren't boarded up." Gerry said, bringing a local map out of his pack. "The closest is a hundred metres from where we are now."

"Phantom?" Carl asked. "Can you distract them long enough for us to get to that first house?"

Danny then did something which surprised everyone. He began to laugh. Just as the team, minus Tucker, began to get annoyed, Danny suddenly began to glow. However, instead of his usual white glow, Danny glowed green. Right before their eyes, Danny split into two, both smiling, this time surprising Tucker.

"We can do one better than at." They both said in unison.

True to the Danny's word, they did one better. Whilst one of them took to the sky and began to shout and throw random ecto-blasts to attract the hordes attention, the other followed closely behind the group and froze the roads as they went down them towards the warehouse. This way, any who decided they made an easier target, would find it impossible to follow them. Gerry would never admit it out loud, but he was actually impressed by the power being demonstrated by the two Phantoms. Because of his duplication, the R&R team got to their destination in just under twenty minutes. Getting everyone to hold on tightly to him, the Danny duplicate phased them through the chained-fence and then straight through the walls of the warehouse.

"Is that everything?" The duplicate asked.

"I think so." Tucker said, taking a quick canvass of the warehouse to make sure there weren't any nasty surprises lying in wait for them. "Thanks for your help man. Go do what you got to do, and then we'll see you back here." The duplicate waved goodbye to everyone, with only Tucker and the girls reciprocating the gesture, before dissipating in a green mist. Danny felt his duplicate return and he faltered in the air slightly as its memories integrated into his own.

"Wow." Danny said to himself as he threw another ecto-blast into the air. "Not even a thank you. The joys of thankless hero work again." Satisfied that he had led the horde far enough away, Danny teleported invisibly to the roof of the shopping centre. Comfortable he was alone, Danny turned visible and then iced over the only entrance before heading over to the trampled camp. It didn't take him long to the find the satchel which contained the personal items, but as he was about to fly off, he heard a low, guttural groan from behind him. Curiosity getting the better of him, Danny walked the length of the roof and, behind one of the air-conditioning units, was half of an Infected. Everything from the waist down was missing, leaving various organs hanging out, staining the roof a dark, crimson colour. Danny was morbidly curious about the thing in front of him. This was the first time he had encountered one which wasn't trying to attack him. Instead, it just stared longingly at the teen in front of it with dead eyes and grasping fingers. Danny almost felt sorry for it. It hadn't asked to be what it was; it was forced upon them. Danny grimaced as it sounded similar to how he became Phantom. True, it may have been curiosity which caused him to walk into the portal, but he never wished for the outcome. Despite that, he would never give up his powers. Thinking of his powers, Danny suddenly had an idea. Placing a hand, albeit reluctantly, on its decomposing head, Danny channelled his healing powers through the Infected's body. The moment his power entered the body, Danny violently recoiled; it wasn't long before Danny was covered in a fine sweat as he concentrated on fighting the infection.

_It's got a mind of its own, _Danny thought, gritting his teeth. _It's actually fighting back_. Realising he was fighting a losing battle, Danny pulled away to catch his breath.

"Well that was interesting." Danny said out loud, eying the Infected warily. It didn't appear to have noticed what just happened. "I guess I should tell the Doc about this." Just as he was standing up and dusting himself off, an ear-splitting scream pierced the air.

The moment the duplicate disappeared, Gerry then began to take charge by ordering the rest of the team around, completely forgetting the incident on the highway. Relatively speaking, the group had hit a gold mine. The warehouse wasn't completely untouched as they had been led to believe, but there were over a dozen crates of bandages, creams, solutions and sutures to keep any hospital happy for a long time. It was more of a struggle breaking into the containers which contained the actual drugs, but a point-blank shot with an ecto-gun made short work of the locks and hinges, even if it did result in a large bang. After the third bang, some of the group were beginning to get nervous.

"Is there no way you guys can do that more quietly?" Lisa asked, frustrated by their lack of self-preservation.

"What?!" Shouted Gerry, firing another blast. "Are we being too loud for you?!"

"Are you actually a moron?" Tucker asked, disbelieved, his tone more hushed. "Just because Danny lured them away, doesn't mean others won't come when they hear you."

"If it makes you nervous, then send someone out there to keep a lookout." Max said, pulling the door off the container. "That way, you can let the big boys do their jobs."

"Ugh." Jessie scoffed. "You're such a pig."

"I don't know. Maybe she's right." Carl said, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. "Whilst they can figure out how to do it quietly, we can have some fun." Unbeknownst to them, a small group of Infected had heard the bangs and were currently pressing themselves up against the chained fence. In the meantime, Carl had decided that they should climb the metal shelves to see if there were any things left on the top ones. Tucker and the girls looked on with incredulity at how blasé they were acting, when the noise they were generating was astounding. The constant shouting and jumping around was attracting more and more attention outside. Soon enough, the chained fence began to yield under the combined weight and pressure of too many Infected. Then two things happened simultaneously; the fence broke with a crash, causing hundreds of Infected to spill into the area desperate to get to the noise, and the shelf Carl was jumping on snapped. He crashed through six more shelves before hitting the ground. Unfortunately, the first piece of broken shelf was already on the ground at this point, causing the tip of it to pierce straight through the back of Carl's shoulder and out through the front. Carl screamed as hundreds of Infected began to bang on the walls, doors and windows; the latter smashing inwards. Tucker and Jessie were on Carl instantly, having already broken into one of the crates to get a handful of bandages. Gerry and Max were busy moving other crates and boxes up against the doors, and Lisa was shooting anything that made an attempt through the broken windows. A split second later, there was a green flash as Danny reappeared in the middle of everyone, quickly catching an ecto-blast which had been shot his way by Lisa.

"Sorry," she said quickly, flustered, before turning her attention back to the window. Taking in the whole situation, Danny acted quickly and created a wall of ice around the doors, broken windows and any sections of the wall which seemed to be buckling.

"All right," Danny began. "What happened?"

"The idiot over here thought it would be a good idea to start jumping around on the shelves." Jessie said, still applying pressure to a whimpering Carl. "When out of nowhere, we've been surrounded." Danny looked at all the stuff they were there to collect, now strewn about the place to act as barriers, and then to the amount of blood coming out of Carl. He took a deep breath.

"Tucker, Jessie," he said, getting their attention. "Leave Carl to me. You help the other three in gathering everything up."

"And who put you in charge?" Gerry demanded obstinately. Everyone groaned.

"Listen here you prejudiced prick." Danny said, getting angry as he walked up to the petty teen, his eyes glowing a brighter green. "Are you trying to piss me off? If you don't let me help Carl, then he is going to die. I am his only hope right now." Danny's tone and eyes were enough to shut him up as he went to help gather up supplies.

"You know what you're doing Danny?" Tucker asked as Danny made his way over to them.

"Trust me Tuck." Danny said. "But do me a favour. Get Doc on your radio and get him to prepare for our arrival. I've never healed this type of wound before." Nodding in affirmation, Tucker went over to help the others, radioing the school as he did.

Danny leaned over the bleeding teen, who was now incredibly pale, rivalling that of Danny's skin.

"Okay, Carl?" Danny asked calmly. "Can you hear me? Just nod your head." Slowly he nodded his head, but regretted it as waves of pain emanated through his body, causing him to groan loudly.

"Okay, okay." Danny said, still calm as to not agitate Carl even more, especially by what was going on outside. "Listen to me. I can't stop the bleeding without getting that metal out of your shoulder. I can do it no problem, but it's going to hurt like hell for a few minutes. You ready?" Carl did an almost imperceptible nod. Danny placed a gentle hand on Carl's other shoulder before placing the other one on the piece of protruding metal. That alone, was enough to cause more pain for Carl but he gritted his teeth. Danny turned his hand intangible, as well as the metal and swiftly removed it from Carl's body. Carl screamed out in pain once more before Danny immediately set to work. It wasn't as hard as he anticipated but it did require all his concentration. A few minutes later, Danny did what he thought was an acceptable job, before covering the whole area in ice to numb the pain.

"Everyone, get over here. Now." Danny commanded. He gently lifted Carl into his arms as he stood slowly; Carl by now had passed out from the pain.

"Is he going to be okay?" Lisa asked, eying the amount of blood on the floor.

"He'll be fine Lisa." Danny assured her. "But we need to get back now so the Doc can have a look at him. Everyone hold onto me as tightly as possible." Once he was sure everyone was holding onto him tightly, he teleported them all back to inside school grounds, before teleporting only Carl to the Doc's office and placing him on one of the beds.

"Right." George said, inspecting Carl. "Let's have a look." Just as Danny removed the ice, the rest of the R&R team burst into the room, Gerry at the helm.

"What's the verdict Doc?" He asked anxiously. George began pressing down and rubbing Carl's shoulder and joint; fortunately, Carl was still passed out.

"Danny's done a smashing job." He said happily, causing everyone to smile. "He's lost a lot of blood, but he should be just fine. He'll need to spend a few days resting up before he even thinks about leaving this room, but my diagnosis is that he will be fine. Well done Danny."

"Yeah, dude." Tucker said, putting his hand on the Halfa's shoulder. "Well done."

"Yeah, well done." Gerry said, his sarcastic tone returning. "Well done for doing your job." The tension in the room suddenly thickened.

"Seriously," began Jessie. "What is your problem? Danny just saved Carl's life. No, scrap that. He just saved all of us, and now you're having a go at him?"

"He was supposed to be watching out for us." Gerry said angrily. "It's his fault Carl got hurt in the first place for not being there." Danny looked at him in disbelief.

"You're seriously blaming him for your guys' stupidity?" Tucker demanded, infuriated. "You didn't want him there in the first place."

"I don't see how that's relevant." Gerry said coolly, walking over to where Carl was laying. "It's obvious he doesn't care. He could have turned up at any point, but he decided to wait until our situation became so dire, that we were on the verge of opting out. He just wanted to play the hero." No one, including Max, could believe what Gerry just said. The room temperature had decreased significantly; so much so, frost began to form on the windows. Tucker immediately looked to Danny, knowing it was him who was doing it. His jaw was clenched tight and his eyes were blazing green. Without uttering a word, Danny teleported out of the room. The group was left in a stifling silence, Gerry believing he had won, until a crash could be heard from outside. Racing to the window, the group was amazed to see every single crate and container from the medical warehouse outside on the grass, even ones they hadn't gathered up. Danny was stood to the side of them, his hood pulled up, but the one green eye they could see was cold enough to send shivers down everyone's spine, especially the teen who was rude to Danny, before teleporting away so forcefully, a small crater was left in his wake.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello once again. I cannot even begin to apologise for the lateness of this latest instalment. The exam period has started so time has been ridiculously restricted. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter of a Phantom Apocalypse.**

It had been over twenty four hours since Danny had teleported from sight of those in the Infirmary. A logical assumption could have been made that he had simply left, as not a single eye had found a cloaked-clad, raven or white haired teen around the school in that time. However, this assumption would only be half correct. In truth, no _human _eyes had found Danny, as he had spent all of his time in the company of his ghostly friends. Initially, Jack and Maddie were concerned for their son's safety, not wanting to lose their son right after having been reunited, but once Tucker explained what happened, they knew Danny needed time to himself. Of all their paranormal research, one of the only things they had got right was how angered a ghost can get when their obsession was questioned. They were in fact proud of Danny in that he had restrained himself from hitting Gerry. Meanwhile, the teen himself was currently lying on the roof of the school and gazing up at the afternoon sky, a look of content on his face. He had spent most of the morning with Krystal and Dani in training to hone in their ice powers, whilst Ember, Johnny and Kitty watched with amusement when an ice bolt flew amiss. Even though Krystal was more inexperienced in being a ghost than Dani, and the fact that she had no teacher to begin with, her mastery over cryokinesis was astounding; it nearly put Danny to shame who had frozen dozens of Frostbite's people when he first realised he had an ice core. Clockwork was correct when he said powerful ghosts wore capes and cloaks. By the end of their session, Krystal was practically a master and Dani could hold her own. Danny's jovial musings were interrupted when he realised he was no longer alone on the roof. Danny then began to tense for a confrontation when he heard three sets of footsteps coming towards him. Like a vampire rising from their coffin, Danny rose to his feet and faced the three intruders in a battle stance with guarded green eyes. Tucker's, Valerie's and Dash's faces were all priceless. Confused, Danny concentrated and felt the familiar rings wash over him as he took down his hood, revealing the now raven-haired, blue-eyed teen.

"Dude," Dash said, finding his voice. "That had to be the single most creepy and awesome thing I have ever seen." Despite himself, Danny couldn't stop the small chuckle from escaping his lips. The three teens took this as a positive sign and moved closer.

"Coming from you Dash," Danny started, sitting down once more and gesturing the others to do so too. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Not that I ever paid you many." Dash conceded guiltily.

Danny waved his hand at this. "Better late than never. So what can I do for you three?"

"Well, first of all," Tucker began, throwing a radio at the Halfa. "You're going to keep that radio. You leave it behind, the next time we see you, we'll stick it to you with some ecto-goo."

Danny snickered, but took the radio and clipped it to his belt. "Aye Captain. Anything else?"

"We wanted to make sure you were all right." Valerie said; a touch of concern in her voice.

"I'm fine." Danny said nonchalantly. "I've dealt with human crap for years. He ruffled me a little bit, I'll admit, but a quick fly was all I needed to clear my head."

"Wow." Tucker said, titling his head as he examined the teen in front of him.

"What?" Danny asked, confused.

"Nothing." Tucker said. "I just never expected you to say 'human' in such a carefree way. I remember before all that asteroid business, you were always so concerned at the fact that you weren't entirely human anymore."

"That was before I spent two months in the Ghost Zone." Danny said, his voice becoming more clipped with every word he said. "It also doesn't help when practically every human I've met here would like nothing more than to shoot me until I became full ghost. And then probably shoot me some more." When the three teens looked down in shame, Danny saw that he had gone too far.

Danny sighed deeply. "I'm sorry guys. You didn't deserve that."

"It's okay Danny." Valerie said consolingly. "We understand. We really do."

"It's just that I thought the world was beyond all this _evil ghost_ stuff." Danny said, his shoulders dropping. "Looks like a Zombie, sorry, Infected apocalypse caused everyone to regress. Well, nearly everyone."

"People fear what they don't understand." Dash said, surprising everyone. The four lapsed into an uncomfortable silence before Danny asked something which had been bothering him since his confrontation with Gerry.

"Do you mind if I ask you guys something?" He asked. "It's just something that Gerry said which has been bothering me."

"Sure." Valerie said. "What is it?"

"What does 'opting out' mean?"

As soon as the words left his lips, Danny knew he had broached a painful subject. The three teens in front of him were looking at each other, anguish and sorrow etched across their faces. Danny knew that look well; it was the same look he has when he thinks about events surrounding Dan and the deaths of his friends and family.

"Look," Danny began. "If you don't want to tell me, it's fine. I was just curious."

"No, it's all right." Valerie said, taking a calming breath. "You should know. Tucker, would you mind?" This surprised Danny. Normally Valerie never shied away from anything, no matter how difficult. Danny should know; he had the scars to prove it.

"Did the Doc explain what happens when you get bit?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah," said Danny. "That when you get bit, you become one of them. He was fairly certain it wouldn't affect ghosts, but he couldn't be sure what would happen if a Halfa was bit."

"I wouldn't advise testing it." Valerie said quietly.

"Anyway," Tucker carried on. "Like you said, all it takes is a bite. One bite and then you become a bio-mechanical weapon driven by meat batteries. Never having to be fed or recharged."

"Death would seem a better option." Danny said simply.

"That's the general view around here." Dash said. "And that's what happens."

"What?" Danny asked, shocked.

Tucker sighed. "No one wants that way of life. When you get bit, the change doesn't happen straight away. The shortest time we've had is four hours, and the longest time was twelve. It depends on the size of the person. But the symptoms are all the same; an out of control fever, aching of the muscles and skin rashes that cover the entire body. In the final hour of the change, it literally feels like your whole body is on fire."

"In that time, a person has the decision to 'opt out'." Dash said, his tone saddening. "We have a stash of real bullets here for such occasions; just one to the head is all it takes." The group of four teens sat there in a heavy silence, heads hung low, Danny especially. He knew the world had gone to hell, but to hear this was taking it to another level. It was when Danny looked back and saw his friends' faces did he realise there was more. His face dropped in realisation.

"It's happened, hasn't it?" He asked, already knowing the answer. They nodded their heads numbly.

"We got word half an hour ago." Valerie said, her voice hitching slightly. "A member of the army, the one with Sam's R&R team, was bitten. He chose to opt out straight away. He had no family to say goodbye to. They'll be back within a couple of hours for a funeral of sorts. He was actually one of the pleasant ones." Danny didn't know what to say. He should have been elated at the prospect of seeing Sam again, but his heart wasn't in it.

"Wait, a funeral of sorts?" Danny asked, catching onto the last thing Valerie said.

"Yeah," Tucker said. "We don't have your traditional funerals anymore. It would be impossible. We simply don't have the space. So instead, all those who want to, gather on the football field and their name is etched onto the memorial statue. It gives us a sense of normalcy. As I'm sure you can imagine, feeling normal is a rarity around here."

"And what of the bodies?" Danny asked curiously.

"We burn them." Dash said bluntly, torn between shame and acceptance. Once again, Danny wasn't sure what to say to that. He felt like he should be upset at what Dash had told him about their dead, but with a morbid sense of acceptance, he understood.

"Will you attend?" Tucker asked suddenly. "I know you take issue with er, _humans, _at the moment, and no one knows what'll happen when the army get here, but it would mean a lot to us if you did." Danny regarded his friend for a moment. It dawned on the Halfa that Tucker had been slightly offended, and quite possibly scared, when he insulted all the humans in the school, effectively segregating himself from everyone else.

"Of course Tuck." He said finally, a small smile coming to his face. "I'll see you there." With that, the conversation was over. Danny bade goodbye to his friends, shaking Tucker and Dash's hand and hugging Valerie, as they each went their way. Tucker, Dash and Valerie walked to the stairway and Danny teleported from sight.

A moment later, Danny reappeared outside the door to the infirmary; knocking on the door, he waited for an answer.

"Come in." George said from inside. Walking through the door, Danny saw that George and his daughter Victoria were leaning over Carl's sleeping form; Victoria let out a small noise before blushing and went to the other side of the room. Whilst Danny didn't know how to respond, George just chuckled.

"Star struck," he muttered, still smiling. "So Danny, how can I be of service?"

"Nothing much." Danny said, moving forwards.

George looked at the teen and laughed. "You are a terrible liar Danny. It's amazing no one discovered your secret before you told them." Danny was about to argue, before biting his tongue. He really was a terrible liar.

Danny sighed. "Might be because my life depended on people not knowing my secret back then. If they knew at the wrong time, I probably wouldn't be here." Danny then thought about it. "That, or the people in Amity Park are seriously dense. I mean, whenever human me vanished, ghost me would appear. Or the fact that I was always shouting 'Going Ghost' right before I transformed."

"Fair enough." George said, putting Carl's chart away. "So what can I do for you?"

"I came to see how Carl was doing." Danny said, his tone saddening. Carl's eyelids fluttered slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Danny, but he ignored it. "Tucker told me about the whole 'opting out' thing, so I guess I understand why Gerry was so upset yesterday. He's still a jerk, but at least I understand why."

George scoffed. "Codswallop." He said, surprising the ghost. "Gerry was upset because he's a pillock, who appears to be very determined to get a rise out of you. He doesn't seem to grasp the concept of how you could probably take him out by flicking your fingers. If you hadn't of been there in that warehouse, we would be etching six names onto that statue instead of just the one." Danny didn't understand some of the words George had used, but he got the general undertone of what he was trying to say. At first, Danny flushed at George's praise, blanched when he described how powerful he was, to sad once more at the mention of the funeral.

"How often does 'opting out' happen?" Danny asked.

George thought for a moment. "That last one we had was about three months ago. It happened to an R&R team the last time we sent one out of Amity. There was a big debate over whether we should do it again. Both Tucker and Samantha were adamant that they should, saying there was no point in being afraid." Despite the morbidity of the conversation, Danny couldn't help but chuckle slightly.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Sounds like them; especially Sam. They were always encouraging me and helping me to fight when I was having a particularly hard time with a ghost." George smiled at Danny's admission, before frowning at the mention of his female friend.

_There it is again, _Danny thought, catching the Doc's look. _Why do people keep doing that whenever I mention Sam?_ Before he could question it further, George spoke again.

"Sounds like you were pretty close." He said. "I sincerely hope you never have to experience something like that. Will you be attending the funeral?"

"Yes, I am." Danny said, sighing. "Even though I'm fairly certain I won't exactly be welcome there."

"Yeah," George agreed, copying Danny's sigh. "To be honest, if arseholes were planes, this place would be an airport. But they'll come around. Eventually." Danny couldn't help but laugh at George's analogy; it was an apt description. He was also feeling much better.

"You know," he began. "After what happened yesterday afternoon, I was determined to distance myself from the human race, aside from a select few and carry on quite happily. And now you, along with Tucker, Dash and Valerie, have changed my mind." With that, he began to float slightly and headed up towards the ceiling, before turning to face the doctor.

"Thanks for the talk Doc. I'll see you later." He said, before directing his attention to Carl. "And for what it's worth, I'm glad to see you're doing okay Carl." George chuckled as Carl stiffened at the comment as Danny flew through the ceiling. Once Danny was gone though, George's smile fell. He saw the level of anger and hate in Danny's eyes before he teleported away for the second time. He didn't know how much more the hybrid could take before he finally snapped.

Night had fallen and the funeral had begun. The entire school had congregated on the football field, facing the direction where Mr Lancer's memorial statue was located underneath the posts; a makeshift altar had been placed to the side of the statue. Each person was holding a lit candle; sombre looks decorating their faces as their eyes faced forwards. It was the first time Danny had seen all the occupants of the school in one place. The invisible teen also noticed that about thirty of them were wearing army fatigues.

_So it looks like the Army has finally arrived_, he thought to himself. Danny then returned his green eyes to the rest of the crowd, and for a fleeting moment, he knew he didn't belong down there. The moment this thought was dispelled, Danny's Ghost Sense went off; he narrowed his eyes and noticed five, very faint, shimmers coming from the opposite end of the field, right above the posts; smiling slightly, he flew over.

"You know," he said, allowing his invisibility to drop, revealing him in Ghost form with his hood up. "I'm surprised that you guys are here."

"Hey," Ember said, reappearing as well as the others and punching Danny's arm. "I resent that."

"Yeah," agreed Dani, punching him too, also in Ghost form. "I'm still half human remember?"

"And I haven't been a ghost for very long." Krystal said.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Danny said, raising his hands. "But the question still applies. How come you're here?"

Johnny shrugged. "We always attend the funerals. Kind of reminds us of what we once were I guess. We stay up here so not to cause trouble with the locals."

"I think that's the first time I have ever known you to actively avoid trouble." Danny said chuckling.

"Shut your trap Phantom." Johnny said, but he too was smiling slightly.

"I take it it's because of the Army as well?" Danny asked, jerking his head to the ground below them. Ember's hair flared up slightly, but she turned invisible before it caused a scene; she reappeared when she got it under control.

"Nothing would make me happier than to have my guitar have an intimate encounter with their faces." She said angrily, before an evil sneer crossed her face. "Or something dangling." Whilst the other four ghosts stifled their laughter, Danny playfully nudged her.

"I knew there was a reason I missed you." Danny said.

Ember smirked. "Must be my feminine charms."

"Yeah right." Dani said, causing Krystal and Kitty to chuckle. "You just hate the Army."

"Hate is a strong word," Ember said. "I just like to see them suffer for a bit. I personally don't see any harm in that. It's no more than what they would do to us."

"Valerie said something about how some of the Army are actually okay though?" Danny queried.

"Yeah, I suppose." Ember conceded, pinching the bridge of her nose, almost as if it was painful for her to admit that. "There are only about five or six out of the thirty that will actually have a conversation with us. The others are fair game though." This caused all the ghosts but Johnny to laugh slightly; he would have joined in laughing, but movement on the ground caught his attention.

"Guys?" He started, his voice becoming grave. "It's starting." Danny whipped his head around and saw that a person in army fatigues had made their way to the altar, candle still in hand. When he turned, Danny got a good look at his face. He had black hair, similar to the length Danny had his before he left and blue eyes, which were also strikingly similar to the Halfa's when in human form. Danny couldn't explain why he felt his whole body tense; his jaw clenched tight when he took in the man's face. Danny also couldn't explain how he was convinced he knew the man. The only thing Danny did know, that whoever this guy was, he was trouble.

Danny placed himself between Ember and Dani and watched as the service commenced, his eyes still narrowed at the soldier talking.

"We are gathered here tonight to commemorate the passing of Sergeant Stanley Blake." He said. His voice was calm and smooth, but forceful; practically oozing with confidence.

_There is something about him, _Danny thought to himself. _Something I can't quite put my finger on. _

"He was a brave and loyal soldier." He carried on. "He followed his orders to the letter and he would always perform outstandingly, and above all, admirably. He was liked by everyone he met, and he will be sorely missed." Danny took this moment to look at his ghost friends, and was surprised when he saw them all with sad expressions. That was when he remembered what Valerie had said before; about how this particular soldier was one of the nice ones. He must have had quite an impact on them. A small sniff disturbed him from Danny's musings. Looking down, he saw Dani trembling slightly, her green eyes glistening. Gently, he wrapped his cloak around the younger Halfa. She in turn crumpled into Danny's embrace, gripping the cloak tightly around her as she continued to cry.

"It's okay," he said softly. "It's okay Dani. Just let it out." As Danny said this, he heard yet another sniff, but this time coming from his right. Looking sideways, he saw that Ember was comforting a crying Krystal, but what really surprised the hybrid was that Ember, the hard-core teen ghost, was crying too. Not as heavily as Krystal, Dani or Kitty was, but crying nevertheless.

"So the rocker chick has a heart after all." Danny said, smiling softly.

Ember rolled her eyes as a tear escaped and held out her hand. "Shut up Dipstick and just hold my hand." Danny smirked softly and grasped her hand, squeezing tightly. Ember flashed him a small, warm smile before returning her stoic gaze to the funeral. Danny followed her gaze, and inspected the crowd below them. At first he was confused when he felt no emotion, even though he was at a funeral. He then realised he had no emotional connection to anyone down there. Looking to his floating friends, Danny saw that he had a stronger connection to them than the humans. However, his lack of emotion suddenly turned to irritation when his nagging feeling returned when he laid his eyes on the guy still speaking.

"I don't trust that guy." Danny said suddenly; Ember scoffed. "What?"

"Nothing." Ember said dismissively. "It's just typical."

"What are you talking about?" Danny asked, confused. Before Ember could reply, Kitty spoke up, wiping her eyes.

"Will you guys shut up?" She hissed, sniffing. "This is a funeral, not a chat show. And Danny, you'll find out later."

"Sorry Kitty." The two ghosts said in unison. If the ghosts had been concentrating more on the funeral than they had talking, they would have noticed the occasional glances being sent their way from the people on the ground, especially one person in particular. Occasional murmurs were passed around, but quiet enough so not to disturb the proceedings.

"Can you believe it?"

"How is it possible?"

"What's it doing here?"

"It's holding hands with Ember!"

"I thought the portals were all sealed off?"

"If that's a dude, he is _so _lucky."

"Is it dangerous?"

"Great. Another freaky ghost to deal with." This last comment caught the attention of one particular person near the front. They turned and saw the ghosts floating at the opposite end of the field; the person was actually friends with the ghosts, so their appearance didn't bother them. The distance was too great to make out many details, but they could make out a cloaked figure with a single green eye floating between Ember McLain and Dani Phantom. Amethyst eyes widened.

The funeral ended with people lifting their candles into the air as Blake's name was etched onto the statue, saying a prayer at the same time. Once they were done, the candles were blown out and people broke off into groups and headed back into the building. Once the field had finally emptied, Danny flew down the memorial statue and inspected Blake's name. This time, he was able to read the statue without welling up. He felt the presences of the ghosts as they landed beside him and he gave them all a small smile, simply enjoying the silence he was sharing with his friends. In the cafeteria, however, things were not so silent. There were about twenty people, a mixture of soldiers and residents of the school, but all eyes were fixed upon two who were in the middle of the room arguing, one of which was still wearing their balaclava and goggles.

"Why wasn't I told about this before, Tucker?" They demanded, arms crossed.

"Take it easy Sam." Tucker said, getting slightly fed up. "I only found out yesterday and I wasn't given any forewarning either. So please, stop jumping down my throat. Tonight's hardly the night to be arguing." He thought this would get the angry teen in front of him to calm down, but it only made her louder.

"But this is huge Tuck." Sam said exasperatedly. "If more ghosts are coming through, then that could mean the portals are reopening. We may actually be able to get some back up here." This was met with a lot of groans from mainly the soldiers, but a few others made the same noise. Sam just rolled her eyes; she was well aware of many of their opinions on ghosts but she wasn't paying much attention to them.

"We have to talk to it." She said suddenly, forming plans in her head. "We need to see what it knows, and how it got here." This time, it was Tucker who groaned; out of annoyance and humour at who Sam was referring to.

"Seriously Sam?" He asked, giving her a look. "After all we've been through with ghosts, and making friends with a great many of them, you're going to call him an 'it'?" This cut through Sam's thoughts.

"Him?" She asked. "You mean you've spoken with him? And you didn't tell me?"

Tucker groaned. _What I wouldn't give for the Box Ghost to make an appearance. _"Yes Sam, I've spoken to him. My half of the R&R team went on a mission with him yesterday." He said. "And the reason I haven't told you was because I hadn't got the chance yet. We were more focused on organising the funeral for Stan. So please, shut up." Even though they couldn't see her face, the people in the room knew she had a look of shock on her face. They enjoyed it when Sam was put in her place, which wasn't often. It was only Tucker and Jazz who could do that.

"So, can I speak to him?" She asked in an apologetic way; Tucker recognised the tone and knew she was apologising. He nodded, accepting her apology, and reached down for his radio.

"Dude," he said into the radio, confusing everyone in the room. "Do you mind coming to the Cafeteria for a sec? I need you to see something." Sam didn't hear the response, but the look on Tucker's face seemed to show that the ghost had agreed.

"He'll be here shortly." He said, clipping the radio back onto his belt.

"You gave him a radio?" She asked. "Why? The others don't have one."

"That's because he disappeared on us after the mission, so we forced it on him." Tucker answered. "As for the others, they don't really care. Ember incinerated it when we tried to give her one."

A moment later, a green light suddenly filled the room and the cloaked figure appeared in the room. The first thing Sam noticed was the piercing green eye that penetrated through the darkness of its hood and its cloak hiding the rest of its body from view. The second thing she noticed was that this ghost was radiating power. So much so that she, along with everyone else in the room, felt like curling up into the fetal position and hide in a corner. She recoiled slightly when the green eye landed on her; it felt like the ghost was looking into her very soul, but she couldn't help but feel like she recognised it. When she saw the ghost move his eye to look at everyone else, she noticed that it narrowed, and the threatening feeling amplified.

_Great, _Sam thought. _Maybe this wasn't such a great idea. He already detests the Army and he's only been here a few days. _The group stayed like that for a few moments, not wanting to be the first to break the silence. Even if the soldiers would never admit it, they were all scared of this ghost in front of them. Then one of the soldiers took it upon themselves to break the silence, the same one who had given the speech during the funeral. He stood up and went to stand by Sam. It was then he noticed that the ghost was the same height as him.

_Is it glaring at me? _He asked himself. "Well this is an interesting development." He said, trying to sound brave and cheerful. "We didn't think we'd see another new ghost around here. Want to explain how you got here?" He was met with only silence, which unnerved him slightly, but he kept his poker face.

"Typical ghost." A sneering voice said from the side. "Thinking they're better than us." The cloaked ghost whipped its head around and the soldier squeaked under its gaze. Realising there was going to be a fight, Tucker thought it best to speak up.

"Sam?" He asked, causing the figure to widen its eyes. "Maybe you should take your head gear off. It might help." Sam gave her friend a confused look, but did as he said. Once she had removed it all, she heard the ghost gasp loudly. Her eyes widened as a familiar white ring appeared around the ghost's waist, surprising everyone but Tucker.

_It can't be. _She thought, bringing her hand to her mouth. The ring split, travelling vertically up and down; the only thing that changed was that the green eye was now blue. Lowering his hood, allowing the cloak to open slightly, he moved the bang out of his eye, allowing both blue eyes to lock onto purple ones.

"Sam?"

"_Danny?_" They stood like that for what seemed an eternity, before the soldier standing next to Sam chuckled.

"So this is the infamous Danny Phantom." He said, smirking before grasping Sam's hand. Danny's blue eyes widened with shock at the contact. "I've heard all about you. The name's David. I'm the leader of the little group of soldiers you see before you. I'm also Sam's boyfriend."

**I apologise once again for the late submission**, **and I apologise again because the time may be roughly the same for when I publish the next one. I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time.**

**Lord Pugsy.**


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